Apartheid Museum, History museum in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Apartheid Museum presents the history of South African racial segregation through exhibitions featuring photographs, documents, and objects across multiple connected rooms. The galleries display personal stories and official records documenting life under the system of racial separation.
The museum opened in 2001 next to the Gold Reef City complex and covers the full period of apartheid from 1948 to 1994. The exhibition follows the major turning points from the start of legal racial separation through the transition to democracy and the first free elections.
Visitors receive randomly assigned entrance tickets directing them through separate white or non-white entrances, recreating the daily reality of racial classification. This experience leads through reconstructed corridors and checkpoints showing how people were sorted and monitored every day.
The route follows a set path through seven sections, each dedicated to a constitutional value: democracy, equality, reconciliation, diversity, responsibility, respect, and freedom. Plan at least two hours to see the exhibitions thoroughly and follow the audiovisual presentations.
The Journeys exhibit shows portraits of gold rush descendants from different population groups and presents both front and back views of each person. This perspective reveals that external features do not allow simple classification and that apartheid categories were often arbitrary.
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