Apartheid Museum

The Apartheid Museum opened in November 2001 on a seven-hectare site in Ormonde, south of the city centre, and it is the single most important museum for understanding modern South Africa. It was built as part of the wider Gold Reef City development and traces the story of apartheid from its roots in earlier segregation laws to its collapse and the arrival of democracy in 1994.

The visit begins before you are even inside. Each ticket is randomly marked "white" or "non-white", and visitors enter through separate gates, a small but unsettling taste of the race classification that governed every part of life. In the courtyard, seven pillars carry the values of the Constitution: democracy, equality, reconciliation, diversity, responsibility, respect and freedom. Large photographs of the descendants of people who came to Johannesburg after gold was found in 1886 line the approach.

The permanent exhibition moves through the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the apartheid laws introduced after 1948, resistance and repression, and the negotiations of the early 1990s. Film footage, newspaper pages, personal testimony and objects are used throughout, and some rooms deal with violence in a direct way. Alongside it there are separate exhibitions on Nelson Mandela and on Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as well as changing shows; recent ones have marked the 40th anniversary of the United Democratic Front and the career of actor and playwright John Kani.

Allow at least two to three hours, and more if you want to watch the films properly. The material can be distressing, so think carefully before bringing young children; older children and teenagers often get a great deal from it with an adult to talk things through. Tickets can be bought online through the museum's booking partner. The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 17:00, and on most public holidays, and it is closed on Mondays.

The museum sits next to the Gold Reef City theme park and casino off the M1 and Northern Parkway, so most visitors arrive by car, taxi, ride-hailing app or on an organised tour, and many Soweto tours combine the two. Pair it with a visit to Constitution Hill in Braamfontein or with Vilakazi Street in Soweto to see the places where much of this history happened.