The Preferred Heritage Destination at this year’s Golden Shield Heritage Awards went to the Cape Muslim and Slave Heritage Museum, who walked away with this national accolade!
The museum, located at the Castle of Good Hope and established in September 2021, received the award from the National Heritage Council (NHC) for its contribution to heritage preservation, protection and upliftment. Founder and curator Igshaan Higgins said the museum defends the freedom to procure and create content and exhibit such works which highlights the privilege of living in a country where experiencing such exhibits is a constitutional right.
National Heritage Council (NHC) chief executive Dr Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni said: “Through these awards, the NHC is able to identify quality projects and put them on a platform for the project leaders to grow while others learn from them.”
“This is definitely a great accolade for the museum but moreover, an accolade that belongs to Cape Town and its people. Our museum is actually a showcase for social cohesion in this country. To receive such an award from the National Heritage Council is huge and will bring light into the Castle of Good Hope. The challenges that we suffered was that the colonial forces determined what our heritage was and particularly its indigenous people, ” said Higgins.
The museum showcases the artistic and cultural heritage of Muslims in South Africa and historically marginalised societies, through an emotive visual story.
Social issues like gentrification in Bo Kaap, the forced removals in District Six, the effects of apartheid legislation like the Immorality Act and the Mixed Marriages Act, social cohesion between Muslims, Jewish, Christian, Xhosa, Khoisan and other African Indigenous Groups and Asian diasporas which shaped contemporary South Africa are examined through an array of about 1 500 exhibits, photographs and art.
“But with this museum it brings awareness and knowledge to the suffering of our people. The museum narrates the unedited history through a display which is arranged chronologically starting with the Portuguese and Dutch interaction with the indigenous people of the Cape and weaving through colonialism, emancipation of slavery, imperialism, apartheid, pass laws, separate development, the tot system and many other challenges that South Africans experienced over the past 400 years,” said Higgins.
Congratulations from MapMyWay!
WHAT: Preferred Heritage Destination Award
WHERE: Cape Muslim and Slave Heritage Museum, Castle of Good Hope, Darling Street Cape Town 8001
INFO: T 082 336 3778 | E info@slaveheritagemuseum.org | Visit
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