Bo-Kaap Museum

The Bo-Kaap Museum stands at 71 Wale Street in the Bo-Kaap, the hillside neighbourhood above central Cape Town in South Africa's Western Cape. The house was built about 1763 and is regarded as the oldest surviving house in the Bo-Kaap that still has its original form. It was constructed in the Cape Dutch style with a flat roof, and it was later altered with Georgian details such as sash windows. The area was settled by the Cape Malay community, a group of descendants of enslaved and exiled people from Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Africa, many of whom were skilled artisans, tailors and craftspeople. The building was originally owned by a Dutch colonial family, then in the 19th century by a Muslim family, and the museum interprets it as the home of a Muslim family of the 1800s. It opened as a museum in 1978 as part of Iziko Museums of South Africa. The rooms include a front room and a parlour furnished with period furniture, ornaments, a prayer mat and household objects, a bedroom, and a courtyard at the rear. Displays explain the origins of the Cape Malay community, its religious and cultural traditions, the first mosques, cooking and the role of craftsmen, as well as the Bo-Kaap's history through the apartheid era and the pressures of forced removal under the Group Areas Act. The curatorial approach is domestic and thematic, giving a view of daily life in the 19th century. The building has been conserved by the museum, with its walls, floors and woodwork preserved as far as possible. Because it is a compact house museum, the visit is brief, and it works best when paired with the nearby Auwal Mosque, the colourful streets of the Bo-Kaap and a walking tour or a Cape Malay cooking class.