At a loss over the holidays? Looking for more than mall-hopping or watching movies? The Joburg Tourism Company has some suggestions.

THE City of Gold has been the heart of South Africa since a rich seam of the shiny metal was found on its western boundary. It is still the country’s financial centre. But there’s more to the city than lucre.

The walkway to the Constitutional Court

Constitution Hill
Constitution Hill is set on the site of Johannesburg's notorious Old Fort prison complex. It is here that you can trace the story of South Africa’s turbulent, often troubled, past and its extraordinary transition to democracy.

The notorious Number Four helps visitors to understand what it meant to be placed at the bottom of the racial hierarchy, while the Mandela Cell documents Mandela’s time at the Old Fort complex and his emotional return to its transformation as Constitution Hill a few years later.

This national heritage site has seen a century of South Africa’s history. Opened in 1893, the first building was a high-security prison which originally housed only white prisoners. Later a fort complex was built around the prison. During the South African War (1899 - 1902) the Old Fort on the site was used by the military for, among other purposes, incarcerating prisoners of war. At the end of the war it became a temporary prison - which stayed for the next 80 years.

Over time more buildings were added, including the Number Four prison - the infamous black men's prison - and the Women's Jail.

Between 1947 and 1948 there were some 90 000 prisoners in jail here.

Into the Old Fort

The prison officially ceased operations in 1983 when the last of the prisoners was transferred to Diepkloof Prison in Soweto.

In a move that was uniquely South African, the highest court in the Land - the Constitutional Court - took up residence on the site in 2004. It heard its first case on 24 February and was officially opened on Human Rights Day, 21 March 2004.

The old prison cells have been converted into an interactive museum with a state-of-the-art audiovisual system that shows footage of former prisoners recounting their experiences. Photographs and prison artefacts - including recreations of the blanket and soap sculptures made by the inmates - help capture the rich heritage of the site.

Across at the Constitutional Court visitors can attend hearings and view its impressive art collection.

Origins Centre
Africa is the birthplace of humankind - the place where our ancestors evolved into human beings. So it's fitting that this is where you can find a museum dedicated to our origins.

A history told in stone

Combining technology with the creativity of South Africa’s foremost artists, the narrative structure of the museum takes visitors through an 80 000 year journey of discovery: from the origins of humankind and through the development of art, symbolism and technology. It gives visitors an insight into what inspired and motivated humans in their search for innovation, putting them on the evolutionary path to today's complex and diverse cultures.

Visitors can experience the oldest known ritual still practised today, the San/Bushman trance dance, as well as viewing the diverse southern African rock art traditions, the world’s oldest continuous art form. The San have genetic markers linking them to Homo sapiens who lived 160 000 years ago.

There is also an exhibit showing how genetic testing contributes to understanding our ancestry and visitors are also able to trace their genetic makeup.

The Origins Centre, as stated on its website, "seeks to restore the continent to its rightful place in history - where everything that makes us who we are today originated".

This sentiment is captured in the museum’s motto: We are who we are because of who we were.

At the centre visitors can see the earliest image made by man, found here in South Africa.

Visitor info 
Address: The Wedge Complex, University of Witwatersrand, Corner Yale Road and Jorissen Street, Braamfontein 
Tel: 011 717 4700/4703/4704 
Website: www.origins.org.za 
Hours: Tuesday to Thursday 9am to 6pm; Friday 9am to 8pm; Saturday and Sunday 10am to 5pm.

Sci-Bono Discovery Centre
Making science and technology exciting is the mission of the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre.

Capturing the sun's energy and the observers' imaginations

It has been compared to similar centres across the globe, such as the Exploratorium in San Francisco and the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

Visitor info 
Address: Corner Mirriam Makeba and President strees, Newtown
Tel: 011 639 8400
Website: www.sci-bono.co.za

Apartheid Museum
Visitors to the Apartheid Museum travel, via a series of 22 exhibition areas, on an emotional and dramatic journey through the history of  apartheid - a state-sanctioned system based solely on racial discrimination.

The journey is a multi-media, multi-sensory experience which has been put together by a team of filmmakers, historians, designers, architects and curators.

Film and video footage collected from around the world documents the history of South Africa under apartheid - from the building of Afrikaner nationalism and life in the townships, to black and white resistance to this iniquitous system.

There are some experiences that offer visitors a glimpse of life under apartheid: tickets are plastic cards that indicate "white" or "non-white", and visitors can stand on the top of a Casspir (an assault vehicle used by the police and military in the 1980s) and view footage of police vehicles driving through the township.

The nooses, a chilling reminder of the past

Chillingly, 121 nooses hang from the roof, representing political prisoners executed during the apartheid years.

Visitors can also leave their own historical artefacts such as passbooks and photographs, and record their experiences under apartheid.

Visitor info 
Cnr Northern Parkway and Gold Reef Rd, Ormonde
Tel: 011 496 1822
Website: www.apartheidmuseum.org
Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm

Gold Reef City
Gold Reef City is an amusement park that takes visitors back to early Johannesburg. Located on an old gold mine, the park is themed around the gold rush on the Witwatersrand.

There is a museum dedicated to gold mining where visitors can view a gold-containing ore vein and see how real gold is poured into barrels.

In addition to the historic side, there are a wide range of attractions at Gold Reef City, including water rides and roller coasters.

For the adult visitors there is also a casino that offers a range of entertainment as well as the usual slots and tables and sports betting.

Gold Reef City is also the site of the Apartheid Museum.

Gold Reef City: historical and modern

Hector Pieterson was one of the first casualties of the march through Soweto on 16 June 1976, when police were ordered to shoot at a crowd of demonstrating students.

Sam Nzima's photograph of the dying Hector Pieterson being carried by a horrified student and his shocked and crying sister became the iconic image of the time.

For years, 16 June stood as a symbol of resistance to the brutality of the apartheid government. Today, it is known as Youth Day – a day on which South Africans honour young people and bring attention to their needs.

The museum is next to the Hector Pieterson Memorial, and the whole area has been declared a national heritage site: visitors can walk along a series of ramps and look through strategically placed windows at scenes such as Orlando Stadium and the police station.

There is also television footage of the uprising.

Participants and witnesses are invited to record their own experiences of the day.

Visitor info 
8288 Khumalo Street, Orlando West 
Tel and fax: 011 536 0611 
Open: Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, Sunday from 10am to 4pm 

Mandela House
Nelson Mandela's Soweto house on the famous Vilakazi Street is one of the top tourist attractions in Johannesburg.

Nelson Mandela's Vilakazi Street residence

The house is now a public heritage site, giving visitors a glimpse of a by-gone time in the life of the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Visitor info 
8115 Vikakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto
Tel: 011 936 7754
Open: Every day from 9.30am to 5pm
Website: www.mandelahouse.com

Lipizzaners
Out in the northern reaches of Johannesburg is the Kyalami base of the South African Lippizaner horses - the only performng Lippizaners outside of Vienna. They have become a much vaunted part of the city's cultural heritage.

The elegant white Lippizaners are highly trained, performing a range of complex moves dating back to the 15th and 16th century. These moves are central to the horses' public performances.

Elegant and highly trained

Liliesleaf Farm
Visit what was the birthplace of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress.

At one time Nelson Mandela also stayed here, under the guise of a caretaker in blue overalls.

Liliesleaf is uniquely connected with the Rivonia trial. On 11 July 1963 the police raided the farm and captured Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Denis Goldberg, Andrew Mlangeni, Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein, Raymond Mhlaba, Bob Hepple and Arthur Goldreich.

Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia

The farm boasts a resource centre, a museum, a liberation centre and a liberation path.

Museum Africa
Museum Africa is Joburg's major historical and cultural museum.

There is also a striking exhibition of the 1956 Treason Trial, during which Nelson Mandela and 155 others were imprisoned at the Johannesburg Fort. They were acquitted of treason after four years.

Joburg's flagship museum

In addition there is a separate photographic museum with a light and shadow display, a range of old camera equipment and some wonderful photographs.

Visitor info 
121 Bree Street, Newtown, Johannesburg
Tel: 011 833 5624 
Open: Tuesdays to Sundays 9am to 5pm. Closed on Good Friday, Christmas Day and 26 December.

Related stories:

• Museums around Johannesburg
  
• One day back in '63 at Liliesleaf
  
• Camera obscura and other photo stuff
  
• Hector: the famous child whose face is unknown
  
• Mandela House opens in Soweto
  
• Origins Centre traces history of humankind
  
• Constitution Hill: essence of SA
  

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