Cape Town: Bo Kaap Museum

One of things I love most about Cape Town is that is is home to so many different cultures.  Of them, the Cape Malay and Islamic communities have been a vital force here for at least 300 years.

The Bo-Kaap Museum is a tiny little museum that focuses on these communities.  From their website:

"The Bo-Kaap Museum, situated in the historic area that became home to many Muslims and freed slaves after the abolition of slavery, showcases local Islamic culture and heritage. The Bo-Kaap itself is well worth a visit. Colourful houses, steep cobbled streets, the muezzin’s calls to prayer, and children traditionally dressed for Madrassa, add to this unique Cape experience."

And indeed, the Bo-Kaap area is a must for visitors to Cape Town.  It is gorgeous (even when photographed on a cloudy day): 

And here's the museum.  Told ya it was tiny:

Inside, there are displays that detail Islam in this region and it is furnished in the style of a typical nineteenth-century Muslim family.

What is interesting is that, as their website says, "Today, the museum is in a transformation stage.  The museum is being changed into a social history museum that will tell the story of the local community within a national socio-political and cultural context and two new displays with this theme have already been completed."

I found these the most compelling of all the displays:

It is so odd to go through the visitor's book and see signatures from the time of apartheid, and then go into the next room and read about apartheid's impact in the Bo-Kaap neighborhood.

I hope that the museum continues to add more of the socio-political displays (and perhaps gets more space!) and that anyone coming to Cape Town takes the time to visit this little gem.