Roodepoort Museum
The Roodepoort Museum is a local community museum, which covers the development of Roodepoort from mining camp to city and the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand. Friendly guides recount the discovery of gold in the area and the development of villages and towns.

The museum boasts a pioneer farmhouse dating from the mid-1800s, a Victorian house from the turn of the century, plus 1920s and 1930s lounges reflecting life in a bygone era. A special display room houses the museum's collection of international decorative art objects. A temporary exhibition gallery has changing displays of local interest.
 

Visitor info 

Civic Centre, Christiaan de Wet Road, Florida Park 
Tel: 011 761 0226 
Fax: 011 674 4043 
E-mail: annes@joburg.org.za 
Web: www.rooderportinfo.co.za 
Open by appointment only.
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Constitution Hill Museum

Constitution Hill, the site of Johannesburg's notorious Old Fort prison complex, has now become a major tourist attraction. Prime attractions include the Old Fort; Number Four, the infamous black men's prison; and the adjacent Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country. Here visitors can attend hearings and view an impressive art collection.

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.
 

Visitor info

Corner Kotze and Hospital streets, Braamfontein 
Tel: 011 381 3100
Website: www.constitutionhill.org.za
Open: Every day from 9am to 5pm (but closed Christmas Day and Good Friday)
There are tours every half an hour. Tours of more than 10 people need to be booked 24 hours in advance by phoning 011 381 3100
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Apartheid Museum

The Apartheid Museum, which opened in November 2001, offers a multi-media, multi-sensory walk through the history of apartheid. It has been critically acclaimed in South Africa and abroad.

A team of filmmakers, historians, designers, architects and curators have crafted a dramatic and moving experience for the museum's visitors. Tickets are plastic cards that indicate "white" or "non-white"; footage of police vehicles driving through the township can be viewed from a Casspir itself; and 121 nooses hang from the roof, representing political prisoners executed during the apartheid years.

The experience, however, is largely audiovisual. 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. Visitors can leave their own historical artefacts - passbooks, for example - and photographs, and record their experiences under apartheid.