Museum Africa – Johannesburg – South Africa

Museum Africa, Johannesburg’s major history and cultural history museum, is housed in the Newtown Cultural Precinct’s old fruit and vegetable market – which was built in 1913 and has now been imaginatively converted into a modern building. A huge collection of objects, paintings and photographs has been collected since 1935, telling the story of South Africa.

The permanent displays show urban life in Johannesburg and its place in South Africa’s complex history, with themes such as work as a gold miner, home in a shack and township jazz. A striking display is 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.