Bo-Kaap Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
S 33° 55.288 E 018° 24.904
34H E 261037 N 6243541
This museum was created in
Waymark Code: WMJ7T0
Location: Western Cape, South Africa
Date Posted: 10/07/2013
Views: 3
The Bo-Kaap Museum is ideally situated in the neighborhood of Cape Town that is called Bo-Kaap. The museum was established in 1978 at 71 Whale Street, on land owned by Jan De Waal, who built the small dwelling in 1763 as a rental unit (referred to locally as a hire/letting house or huurhuisie”). The huurhuisies were the very first houses built in this neighborhood, and the dwelling that currently houses the museum is the oldest in the neighborhood. The structure had been altered over the years, but the wings that had been added on over the years were removed when it was converted into the museum, and it was restored to depict a “Malay dwelling” of the 19th Century. The curvy roof line is distinctive, with its curvilinear parapet reflecting the style of an older era. The flat roofs of this dwelling and others of its era were often disguised with decorative roof edging such as this, to help cover up the ugly flat, slopping roof behind the decorative edging, which in the 1700’s were “waterproofed” using the method of the day: mopping the roof with a mixture of whale oil and molasses, to repel rain. During the restoration and conversion to a museum, the original teak windows, yellowwood flooring and ceiling boards, teak-shutters, fanlight and doors were retained when possible. The front stoep or “voorstoep” has also been retained, and features solid seats at both ends, a popular gathering spot for family and friends when the dwelling was a rental, or for visitors current-day.
HISTORY OF THE AREA:
Bo-Kaap refers to the neighborhood roughly bounded by Strand Street to the north, Buitengracht to the east and Carisbrook to the South; the words translate to "upper Cape Town", and it is a location with a controversial past. It was the home to a large number of slave families, brought to Cape Town by the Dutch East India Company from Malyasia, Indonesia, Suriname and other places. It was fairly isolated in "personality", developing a character refered to as Cape Malay. During apartheid, many of the neighborhoods were being razed but this one escaped that fate, and in the recent decades the neighborhood has become fashionable again, with "yuppies" moving in to renovate and restore the area. The brightly colored Bo-Kaap area is a big tourist attraction today.
Admission Prices:
• Adults R20
• 6-18 years R10
• SA Students and pensioners R10
• Family Ticket (2 adults & 2 children) R50
• Under 5’s enter for free
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