The Roodepoort Museum will be undergoing some much-needed renovations and will be closed from 11 April.
The Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development, councillor Nonhlanhla Sifumba, apologised for any inconvenience caused by the temporary closure.
“As a new administration, we are committed to renovating heritage institutions, where necessary, as they play an integral role in increasing tourism and maintaining the City’s status as the home of the arts,” she said.
The museum will reopen its doors to the public on 11 May. The public will be given an opportunity to see the newly renovated museum during the celebrations of International Museum Day on 18 May. This will be an open day and entrance will be free.
Some interesting facts about the museum include:
• It is one of Roodepoort’s oldest heritage sites
• The need for a museum originated during the 1960s, when the West Rand Historical Society started collecting and preserving the cultural heritage of Roodepoort. All of these items were donated to the City Council of Roodepoort in October 1963.
• The Council, as well as residents, donated money, and the first museum – located in a house at 18 Dieperink Street in Roodepoort – was opened on 21 April 1972.
• The collection continued growing and soon the house was too small and plans were made to move to larger premises. On 30 June 1972, the museum in Dieperink Street closed down and on 19 March 1982 the ‘New Roodepoort museum’ – situated in the newly built Civic Centre – was inaugurated.
• Twenty-four years later it was decided that, because of budget constraints, the museum should close. This sparked a lot of outrage, and through the efforts of The Friends of Roodepoort Museum and the City of Johannesburg’s Department of Community Development, it was possible to relaunch the museum on 14 November 2007.
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