Parys – From Friday, 3 August, the Parys Museum will finally reopen its doors to the public for the first time in a long while. But there is even more good news for Parys and the Vredefort Dome Tourism Industry.
The Geological Society of South Africa has agreed to assist in producing the very long-overdue ‘Vredefort Dome’ exhibit in the Parys Museum.
This will include photographs, maps, diagrams and rock specimens found in the Vredefort Dome, together with reconstructed scenes showing the meteorite impact and its effects on the surrounding land two billion years ago. The text will be presented in layman’s terms and will avoid scientific terminology, where possible.
The idea is to present the information in an understandable and entertaining form.
The Vredefort Dome is the central up-lift feature of the oldest and largest meteorite impact crater known on earth.
Sadly, very little information on this geological marvel is available to those visiting Parys, Vredefort and the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Excellent geological tours of the area are recommended but, unless an introductory facility is available within Parys itself, many visitors will continue to remain unaware of its importance.
GSSA geologists will soon be visiting the museum and speaking with local tour guides to decide on the best way to interpret this information.
For now, the museum will be open to visitors between 10:00 and 15:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Taking into account that more than 50 museums have closed down over the past few years and another 50 might follow, this is indeed good news for Parys, which relies heavily on the tourism industry for an income.
This all thanks to the initiative of Iris Andrew who has unceasingly believed in the museum and has been fighting for it for many years.
* Originally, the Vredefort Dome exhibit would have been housed in the Vredefort Dome Interpretation Centre. This facility, just outside Vredefort, cost more than R24 million to build but, until today, this centre is nothing more than a white elephant.
The building itself was completed in August 2008, ten years ago but, due to very bad construction work it could never be used and was said to be too dangerous.
Now it has been vandalised even more by the homeless and is a total disgrace to both tourists and tourist guides
