Graaff-Reinet Museums

The Military History Museum is the most recent addition to the Graaff-Reinet Museum Complex and was established in 2005. The building was built along the lines of a stable situated on the same premises, to ensure that it is in keeping with the architectural style of the rest of the buildings of the museum complex.

Located in Church Street, Graaff-Reinet, is housed in the fifth oldest church building in South Africa. It was built and consecrated as a Dutch Reformed Mission Church in 1821, 35 years after the founding of the village of Graaff-Reinet in 1786. It is also one of the three remaining Dutch Reformed Church buildings built on the traditional cruciform plan.
Nieu Bethesda Museums

This unique museum of contemporary art made by living Bushmen, includes a permanent collection of stunning tapestries made by local Bushmen artists at the Bethesda Arts Centre, artwork that explores the ancient wisdom of |Xam Bushman Creation Mythology, a vivid journey into the story of how the rich mythology and culture of the Bushmen was saved from extinction, and an opportunity to meet the artists, see them working in the studios, and purchase prints and textiles.

The Centre depicts the setting in the area around Nieu Bethesda 253 million years ago during the Permian Period. The centre showcases the fossils found both in Nieu Bethesda and in other places in South Africa. The fossils date to a time 50 million years before the age of dinosaurs when the continents were merged in a supercontinent called Pangea.






