Heart of Cape Town Museum, Medical history museum in Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa.
The Heart of Cape Town Museum is housed in the original operating rooms of Groote Schuur Hospital, where a medical revolution took place in 1967. The space displays the exact setup from that period, including instruments, equipment, and documents from the time of the surgery.
A surgical team performed the first successful human heart transplant in 1967, an event that transformed medicine worldwide. The operation was initially observed with skepticism by international experts but quickly led to advances in transplant medicine around the world.
The museum shows how the heart transplant changed the medical world at that time and what questions it raised for doctors and patients. Visitors can read old letters and statements from medical professionals around the world who learned of this surgery.
Visits require advance booking since only guided tours through the rooms are offered and spaces are limited. It is best to arrive early in the day when tours are less crowded and you can see the details more clearly.
The museum displays reconstructed bedroom and recovery spaces that show who the donor and recipient were and how their lives changed through the operation. These personal rooms give the medical events a human face and make the history tangible.
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