Iimfihlelo eziMangalisayo ze-Iziko South African Museum
Versteekte wonders van die Iziko Suid-Afrikaanse Museum
The Iziko South African Museum’s collections are the oldest and largest of their kind in sub-Saharan Africa, housing over 10 million preserved animals, fossils and archaeological artefacts. In the past, animals and objects were collected for their beauty and exhibited in a wunderkammer-like museum. Today, museums collect to record natural heritage and uncover the foundational information it holds for the benefit of science and society.
New museum practices and advances in technology and have provided the tools to reimagine collections and highlighting the value of keeping such a remarkable record.
Hidden Wonders of the Iziko South African Museum showcases the very best of our impressive and almost 200-year-old collections.
Among other wonderful objects, the exhibition features ostrich egg-shells that were carved into jewelry and given as gifts by our ancestors, a real preserved specimen of the “Living fossil fish” discovered by JLB Smith, an extinct Quagga foal whose tissue was harvested for DNA testing, a 3D printed skull of an African bear that once roamed the plains of Africa and the splendor of microscopic beasts that today help us unlock hidden secrets about how we can secure our future.
