Iziko South African Museum is the oldest museum in South Africa established by Dr Smith in 1823. Visited by Charles Darwin in June 1836, when he came to Cape Town on his circumnavigation of the southern hemisphere on the HMS Beagle.
The South African Museum houses more than one and a half million specimens of scientific importance. The collections now range from fossils almost 700-million years old to insects and fish caught last week. There are also stone tools made by people 120 000 years ago, traditional clothes from the last century, and T-shirts printed yesterday.
Includes exhibitions of rock paintings and engravings, providing evidence of spiritual beliefs and ritual, dating back 80 000 years.
In 1897 the Museum moved to its present building in the historic Company’s Garden. Since then millions of visitors have wandered its halls and corridors to be stimulated and inspired by its collections and exhibitions. They have left the Museum with a better understanding of the earth and its biological and cultural diversity, past and present.
25 Queen Victoria Street, Gardens, Cape Town 8000
Daily 09h00 to 17h00
Closed Workers’ Day and Christmas Day
Tel: +27 (0)21 481 3800