Welcome to SafariNow. Get off your accommodation booking by paying with the voucher code before .

About Colesberg Kemper Museum

The Colesberg-Kemper Museum developed from a collection of curiosities and has grown into a fascinating store house of local history and contemporary information. This user-friendly museum is not a place where artefacts are just measured, catalogued and put away. Items are there to be looked at, talked about and stories told. It is a place where the elderly come to share their memories, newcomers and tourists seek information and children begin to appreciate and enjoy the past.

The building itself is a typical example of early Karoo architecture. Built as the Colesberg Bank in 1861, it became one of the first branches of `The Standard Bank of South Africa' to be established in this country in 1863. In 1940 it housed the Municipal Offices when the present Standard Bank was built. In 1975 the old building was made available to the Historical Society and the Colesberg-Kemper Museum came into being. The old bank hall is now the busy Colesberg Information Office and the remaining rooms house the museum collection.

The artefacts displayed are humble items that have little intrinsic value, but are just as important as a rare specimen to a natural history museum or a valuable painting to an art gallery. The significance is that the items depict the everyday lives of our great grandparents, our grandparents, our parents and even our own youth, successfully filling the gap that exists between local history and text-book history.

There is something for everyone in the museum - ranging from fossils deposited 250 million years ago, when South Africa's first terrestrial reptiles roamed the Karoo, a contemporary Karoo Nomad photographic exhibition assembled by Professor Michael de Jongh and his colleague Riana Steyn from the Department of Anthropology UNISA, to personal stories from Colesberg's share in the struggle during the 1980’ and early 90’s.

The old kitchen decorated with kitchen utensil from days gone by houses the Lilian Ngoyi ‘Karretjie’ Coffee Shop with a display of a restored Cape Cart, a 19th century horse-drawn hearse and farm implements on its door step. This is complimented with the Amachule Akwantu Arts and Craft Centre. Some of the most interesting objects and documents in the museum collection date are from the Anglo-Boer War period, when fierce battles raged around the town and many lives were lost, as the names inscribed on the graves and memorials in the Military Cemetery of the town testify.

Telephone:
Information Office: ​Mr Lungile Mpemba 05𔁯 753 0678
Things to do in Colesberg

Accommodation near Colesberg Kemper Museum

Nooitgedacht Town Lodge

Sleeps 12 in 4 rooms

Experience true luxury in an ultra-modern room. The property and interior have been newly renovated. Close to all amenities including...

Nooitgedacht Guest Farm

1 Review
Sleeps 14 in 2 rooms

Nooitgedacht Guest Farm forms part of a working merino wool sheep farm that is situated 23 km west of the town of Colesberg. Nooitgedacht...

Traveller's Joy

158 Reviews
Sleeps 15 in 5 rooms

Traveller's Joy is situated in Colesberg, halfway on route between Cape Town and Johannesburg, the perfect stop over for the tired tourist,...

Gables Inn

258 Reviews
Sleeps 140 in 50 rooms

Gables Inn is an overnight accommodation situated in Colesberg; on the N1 halfway between Cape Town and Johannesburg. We have 43 units...
R575
Avg per night

7 On Grey Guesthouse

Sleeps 13 in 4 rooms

7 On Grey is a guesthouse that offers spacious and serene rooms. It is situated in a quiet street close to all amenities in Colesberg,...
R650
Avg per night

Onze Rust Guest House and Car...

83 Reviews
Sleeps 61 in 19 rooms

Welcome to Onze Rust Guest House and Caravan Park in Colesberg an oasis in the Karoo halfway to...
R500
Avg per night for 2 guests

Colesberg Kemper Museum Map

Click to interact with the map
Click to display the map
Colesberg Kemper Museum is 1.2km from the centre of Colesberg , the nearest airport 216.5km (Kimberley Airport).
*Distances are shown as the crow flies and not necessarily the actual travelling

Other things to do near Colesberg

2 Reviews
Housed in JOBHUIS is a permanent exhibit of 25 contemporary paintings (artist Rina Coetzee) based...
1 Review
Spend a peaceful night in jail! Sleep in an authentic cell featuring incredibly thick walls that...
1 Review
The first Dutch Reformed Church was built in 1859, but later replaced by a larger building in...