Phansi Museum offers tours, classes

THE Phansi Ubuntu Museum at 500 Esther Roberts Road, Glenwood, is once again open to the public.

The museum, which is a non-profit, public benefit organisation, is situated in Robert’s House, a Victorian National Monument in Glenwood.
The museum is a hidden treasure just waiting to be explored by local residents and visitors alike. It began as a small collection of craftwork in a basement before being accorded private museum status in 2000.

From small beginnings, the museum houses one of the largest and most spectacular publicly accessible collections of southern African artefacts including Zulu beadwork, dating back to the 19th Century, earplugs, wire baskets, milk-pails, beer-pots and fertility dolls.

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The Phansi Ubuntu Museum collection has reach and resonance and honours the extraordinary ability of ordinary people to shape South Africa’s cultural heritage. By partnering with local authorities and institutions, it aims at providing a stimulating public space where people of all backgrounds can come together and be inspired.

There is also an exhibition space at the museum, the Phansi Gallery, which showcases ubuntu art, and visitors can browse the beautiful arts and crafts at the African Art Centre, which opened at the museum in July 2019.

“We encourage the community to visit the museum, and to take part in our workshops and classes,” said Thobekile Mbanda from Phansi Ubuntu Museum. “We have Indigenous Saturday Skill development programmes for children, offering pottery classes, guitar lessons, storytelling and arts and crafts sessions, and we are now also open for tours of the museum, which houses 20 000 artefacts that tell a magical and beautiful story of our cultural heritage,” she said.

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The museum is open weekdays from 8.30am to 3.30pm and Saturday from 10am to 2pm. The African Art Centre is closed on a Saturday.
Covid-19 protocols will be followed, and tours are limited to five people per guide.
Contact 031 206 2889, email: admin@phansi.com or visit: www.phansi.com.

Upcoming events
isiZulu Classes with Mam’ Phumzile Nkosi: Mondays from 4.30pm to 5.30pm.
Saturday Pottery classes with artist in clay, Phumlani Nyawo: Starting 24 October.
Saturday Market on 7 November from 10am to 2pm.
Indigenous Saturdays from 7 November: Guitar classes with Mbusi Ndlela, Folklore, arts and crafts with Ongezwa Mbele and Thobekile M Nkosi.

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