The Voortrekker / Msunduzi Museum

A  MUSEUM FOR ALL PEOPLE

Since the 1990’s, the Voortrekker / Msunduzi Museum in Pietermaritzburg has changed from a historically single-themed museum to one that depicts the heritage of the different cultural groups of KwaZulu-Natal.

The museum was started in 1912 as a tribute to the Voortrekkers, mostly Dutch-speaking farmers who left the Cape in 1837-1838 in order to escape British rule. Voortrekker history is still displayed in the Voortrekker Complex, i.e. the historic Church of the Vow, the Andries Pretorius House and the E.G. Jansen Extension.

However, the main building of the Museum (formerly the old Longmarket Street Girls School), now features a variety of cultural history exhibitions. This is supplemented by a Hindu Shiva temple, a traditional Zulu home and a beautiful herb garden.

Displays on the Anglo Boer War can be seen at the Voortrekker House, 333 Boom Street.

The museum will be celebrating its centenary in 2012, and well-known historical writer, Prof William Guest, has been commissioned to write a book on its history. Anyone with relevant information or pictures are called upon to please donate this to the museum before March 2010. We would especially like to hear from those with links to the history of the Church of the Vow (for example couples who were married there).