A day of discovery: Experience free museum tours on International Museum Day

Visiting a museum offers a relaxing yet enriching experience. Museums preserve history and house important artefacts that educate communities and foster cultural connection. They provide the perfect setting to explore, learn, and appreciate the wonders of the natural world. For researchers, museums also serve as invaluable resources for discovery and study.

The country offers a wide range of institutions, including art museums, natural history museums, and science museums, each providing a unique insight into our heritage and culture.

What you’ll find in Gauteng’s Museums

Expect to find a treasure trove of items when you visit museums in and around Gauteng. Exhibits often include:

• Paintings and sculptures

• Historical portraits

• Machines and tools

• Technology and electronics

• Houseware, clothing, and furniture

• Photographs, letters, and artefacts

• Rocks, plants, and animals

Celebrate International Museum Day in South Africa

On 18 May, the world celebrates International Museum Day. The theme for 2025 is “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities.”

‘This theme highlights the essential role of museums as connectors, innovators, and stewards of cultural identity, while fostering discussions about safeguarding intangible heritage, embracing youth empowerment, and exploring technological advancements’, reads a statement from DITSONG: Museums of South Africa.

To celebrate International Museum Day, the following museums will offer free entrance from 18 to 25 May 2025: all Ditsong museums, the Apartheid Museum in Kempton Park. The Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial in Soweto will offer free entrances on 16 June  2025. 

There will also be month-long activities, from 1-30 May, at some of the museums to promote awareness, enhance accessibility, increase visibility, and promote cultural celebration.

Museums participating in International Museum Day 2025

Here are the participating institutions located just a few kilometres from the Johannesburg Central Business District:

• South African Air Force Museum
• Post Office Museum
• DITSONG: Kruger Museum
• City of Tshwane: Fort Klapperkop Heritage Site
• DITSONG: Tswaing Meteorite Crater
• Freedom Park
• DITSONG: Pioneer Museum
• City of Tshwane: Melrose House Museum
• DITSONG: National Museum of Cultural History
• Geo-Science Museum
• City of Tshwane: Pretoria Art Museum
• City of Tshwane: Paul Kruger Office Museum
• DITSONG: National Museum of Natural History
• UNISA: Anthropology and Palaeontology Museum
• DITSONG: National Museum of Military History
• DITSONG: Sammy Marks Museum
• DITSONG: Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum
• National Heritage Council
• University of Pretoria Museums
• National Library of South Africa
• South African National Archives
• Pan South African Language Board
• Capital Collective
• Women’s Monument
• Mampuru Correctional Services Museum

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