Iziko South African Museum

Iziko South African Museum was founded in 1825.

It moved into its current building beside Company’s Garden in 1897, and today its collections contain more than ten million objects.

Fossils, zoology, archaeology and anthropological material sit within the same institution. One of its best-known spaces is the Whale Well, with large whale skeletons suspended through the hall.

But the scale of the collection also leads to a more difficult question.

The museum grew from the European tradition of the cabinet of curiosities and colonial collecting, when animals, objects and human cultures were often removed from their own contexts and interpreted through the collector’s point of view.

Contemporary exhibitions increasingly try to reconsider that language.

So the museum can now be read on two levels at once. You can explore millions of objects while also watching a nearly two-century-old institution rethink how and why those objects were collected in the first place.

In short: 🕰️ Founded in 1825 · 🗃️ 10+ million objects · 🐋 Whale Well · 🦴 Fossils and zoology · 🏺 Archaeology · 🔄 Rethinking colonial museum language