September is Heritage Month, so why not celebrate Joburg’s exciting, and sometimes turbulent history over the weekend of 24 and 25 September with The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation.
The foundation will be running walking and bus tours across the city, catering for all tastes and interests; four children’s tours; a book sale; a photographic exhibition and a tea garden at Holy Family College.
Most excitingly, and to celebrate Heritage Day, the foundation will be hosting a screening of the first film that addressed the black experience in the City of Gold, Jim Comes to Joburg. Watch this classic, first screened in 1949, under the stars in the magnificent gardens of the Northwards home in Parktown.
Explore the historic city centre, its magnificent architecture and fascinating social history in Phoenix Joburg and Motortown and Music.
Marvel at magnificent views and the baronial homes that command the ridges in The Baker Tradition, The Plunge Down the Ridge, and Emoyeni to Villa Arcadia.
Delight in the opulent interiors of beautifully restored landmarks on The View to Sunnyside Park, and Sunset at Northwards.
Discover remarkable personalities at Braamfontein Cemetery, The Brow on the Hill and Joburg on Film.
Children are invited to a beautiful Edwardian attic classroom to experience what school was like 100 years ago. They will sit in old-style wooden desks and learn to write in cursive with dip pens, inkwells and blotting paper. They will discover how children used to learn to read, and find out what a dunce cap was used for. Children’s tours cost R30.
The more you explore, the less you pay. Book for one tour and pay R70, book for two tours and pay R120, book for three tours and pay R150. Heritage Weekend tours depart from Holy Family College, Parktown, situated at 40 Oxford Road, Parktown. Enter from Third Avenue or from Oxford Road. Bookings for the heritage weekend are not necessary but will be limited to capacity on the bus.
The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation, founded as the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust in 1985, is a non-profit organisation dedicated the exploration, documentation, protection and restoration of Johannesburg’s heritage.
Details: www.joburgheritage.org.za
