Museums

Formerly a Dutch Reformed Church parsonage it was built using mostly locally acquired material with Government funding in 1812 in the Cape Dutch H-style. High up on the gable is an hour glass with extended wings as a reminder that “time flies”.

The former Residency, situated diagonally opposite Reinet House at the end of Parsonage Street, and forming a unique architectural complex with it, is a well-preserved example of the early 19th Century Cape Dutch H-shaped house.

The large erf at the southern extremity of Market Square, on which Urquhart House stands today, was granted in freehold to Johan Hendrik Greyling on 1 January 1806, which places it amongst the earliest plots transferred into private ownership in Graaff-Reinet.

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.

While limited privately sponsored library facilities were available in Graaff-Reinet from about 1818, it was not until 1847 that the citizens of the town established a public library, subscribing funds to build the central portion of the present building in Church Street.

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.

The building was declared a National Monument in 1975, although not a municipal museum as the Hester Rupert Art Gallery which houses a permanent display; the Jan Rupert Art Centre showcases temporary art exhibitions through the Rupert Art Foundation.

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 Ganora Fossil Museum in Nieu Bethesda was registered in 1998 and, although small, houses mainly the finds we have made on Ganora. The fossils we exhibit are on average about 280 million years old. That was in the time when reptiles roamed the earth before the age of the dinosaurs.

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.