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Stuff from Johannesburg

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Museum Africa: Art Collection

The museum’s collection is staggering, housing approximately 850,000 objects that range from the prehistoric to the contemporary. It is one of the few institutions that attempts to tell the story of Southern Africa from the Stone Age to the nuclear age. The “Johannesburg Transformations” exhibition is the museum’s centerpiece, dragging the visitor through the chaotic evolution of the city. It doesn’t shy away from the grime; it features detailed reconstructions of “shack life,” the illegal “shebeens” (speakeasies) of the 1950s, and the vibrant but overcrowded “backyard rooms” that defined the black urban experience during Apartheid. One of its most sobering permanent displays is the “Tried for Treason” exhibit, which meticulously documents the 1956 Treason Trial. Visitors can see the portraits of all 156 accused—including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and Albertina Sisulu—and read the “little red books” placed beneath each photo, where the public is invited to write their own reflections and facts about these liberation icons.

Deep within the museum’s labyrinthine halls, you’ll find specialized branches that are world-class in their own right. The Bensusan Museum of Photography sits on the top floor, acting as a shrine to the visual history of the continent. It contains everything from rare 19th-century daguerreotypes to the legendary photojournalism of the Drum magazine era. Meanwhile, the Geology Museum houses over 17,000 specimens, including a definitive collection of the rocks and minerals that made Johannesburg possible. It is a place where you can see the actual gold-bearing conglomerate reefs of the Witwatersrand up close, stripped of their commercial value and presented as scientific wonders.