26 Sights in Cape Town, South Africa (with Map and Images)
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Explore interesting sights in Cape Town, South Africa. Click on a marker on the map to view details about it. Underneath is an overview of the sights with images. A total of 26 sights are available in Cape Town, South Africa.
Sightseeing Tours in Cape TownActivities in Cape Town
The Groote Kerk is a Dutch Reformed church in Cape Town, South Africa. The church is South Africa's oldest place of Christian worship. The first church on this land was built in 1678. Willem Adriaan van der Stel laid the cornerstone for the church. It was replaced by the present building in 1841 built by Herman Schuette and the original tower was retained. The pulpit is the work of Anton Anreith and the carpenter Jacob Graaff, and was inaugurated on 29 November 1789. The Groote Kerk lays claim to housing South Africa's largest church organ, which was installed in 1954
St George's Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, and the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town. St. George's Cathedral is both the metropolitical church of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and a congregation in the Diocese of Cape Town.
Wikipedia: St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town (EN), Heritage Website
The Noon Gun has been a historic time signal in Cape Town, South Africa since 1806. It consists of a pair of black powder Dutch naval guns, fired alternatingly with one serving as a backup. The guns are situated on Signal Hill, close to the centre of the city.
4. Green Point Lighthouse
The Green Point Lighthouse, Cape Town is an operational lighthouse on the South African coast. First lit on 12 April 1824, it is located on Mouille Point. The lighthouse was the first solid lighthouse structure on the South African coast and the oldest operational lighthouse in South Africa. The lighthouse was commissioned by acting Governor of the Cape Colony Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin and designed by German architect Herman Shutte. Building commenced in 1821 and was completed in 1823. The lighthouse started operating in 1824. The lighthouse cost approximately £6,420 pounds sterling to build. When the lighthouse was first lit, it burned Argand lamps fueled by sperm whale oil. The light from these lanterns could be seen for 6 nautical miles. The lighthouse was expanded to its present height in 1865. In 1922, the range of the light house was extended to 22 nautical miles when 3rd order dioptric flashing lights were installed. Its present characteristic is a white light flashing every 10 seconds. In 1926, a foghorn was installed in the lighthouse despite a letter of complaint sent to the Mayor of Cape Town in 1923 by Green Point residents. Local Residents call the Green Point Lighthouse "Moaning Minnie".
5. Groote Schuur
Groote Schuur is an estate in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1657, the estate was owned by the Dutch East India Company which used it partly as a granary. Later, the farm and farmhouse was sold into private hands. Groote Schuur was later acquired by William De Smidt, and remained in the family's possession until it was sold by Abraham De Smidt, Surveyor General of the Cape Colony, in 1878, and was bought by Hester Anna van der Byl of the prominent Van Der Byl / Coetsee family. In 1891 Cecil Rhodes leased it from her. He later bought it from her in 1893 for £60 000, and had it converted and refurbished by the architect Sir Herbert Baker. The Cape Dutch building, located in Rondebosch, on the slopes of Devil's Peak, the outlying shoulder of Table Mountain, was originally part of the Dutch East India Company's granary constructed in the seventeenth century.
6. Heart of Cape Town Museum
The Heart of Cape Town Museum is a museum complex in the Observatory suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. It is in the Groote Schuur Hospital on Main Road. The hospital was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human heart transplant took place, conducted by University of Cape Town-educated surgeon Christiaan Barnard on the patient Louis Washkansky. The museum opened on December 3, 2007, marking the 40th anniversary of the heart transplant by Christiaan Barnard. The Heart of Cape Town Museum honors everyone who played a major role in a surgical feat that created a new medical era. It also brings attention to ethical and moral implications that came up at the time. It also highlights the ways in which Barnard's accomplishment put South Africa and the University of Cape Town on an international stage.
7. Auwal Masjid
The Auwal Mosque, alternatively spelled Awwal, Owal or Owwal, is a mosque in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood of Cape Town, South Africa, recognised as the first mosque established in the country. It was constructed in 1794 during the first British occupation of the Cape on land belonging to Coridon van Ceylon, a Vryezwarten. Coridon's daughter, Saartjie van de Kaap, inherited the property that was being used as a warehouse, and donated it for the use as South Africa's first mosque. The mosque was constructed in 1794 with renovations done in 1907 and extensive renovations done in 1936. It is the first mosque to observe public prayers and is where Cape Muslim traditions and the Arabic-Afrikaans language were first taught. It remains a symbol for Muslims of the recognition of Islam and the freedom of slaves to worship.
8. Artscape Theatre Centre
Artscape Theatre Centre is the main performing arts centre in Cape Town, South Africa. It was opened in 1971 and is located on reclaimed land in the Foreshore area. The inaugural performance was scheduled to be Giuseppe Verdi's Aida but illness struck the title-role singer Emma Renzi and the production was replaced by CAPAB Ballet's Sylvia. Other productions in the opening season were Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in Afrikaans and Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. The complex includes:Opera House, seating 1,487 with provision for two wheelchairs. Theatre, seating 540 but more or less depending upon whether the pit is used. Arena Theatre, seating 140.
9. Waterworks Museum
The Waterworks Museum is located on the northern side of Table Mountain, between the Woodhead and Hely-Hutchinson Reservoirs, in Cape Town, South Africa. The museum was founded in 1972 by Terence Timoney, a retired waterworks engineer. The museum houses a display of memorabilia from the construction of the dams on Table Mountain which include a beautifully restored narrow gauge steam engine. It has an interesting display of original equipment, hand tools, instruments and photographs and includes the original well-preserved steam locomotive used to haul equipment from the old cableway at Kasteelspoort.
10. Cape Town Holocaust Centre
The Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre began as Africa's first Holocaust centre founded in 1999. It has sister Centres in Johannesburg and Durban, and together they form part of the association, the South African Holocaust & Genocide Foundation (SAHGF). The SAHGF determines the educational and philosophical direction of the centre. It also conducts teacher training and is the only accredited service-provider for in-service training in Holocaust education in the country. It has trained over 5,000 teachers
11. Statue of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr
The statue of Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr in Church Square, Cape Town, is a sculpture of the South African journalist and politician Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, affectionately known as "Onze Jan". The statue was sculptured by Anton van Wouw. The statue was vandalized in April 2015 as part of a wider campaign against statues of colonial-era figures in South Africa. The statue's pedestal was covered with white material bearing the words "A black woman raised me".
12. Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA)
Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa is a public non-profit museum in Cape Town, South Africa. Zeitz MOCAA opened on September 22, 2017 as the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. The museum is located in the Silo District at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town. A retail and hospitality property, the Waterfront receives around 24 million local and international visitors per year.
Wikipedia: Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (EN), Website
13. Robben Island Prison
Robben Island Prison is an inactive prison on Robben Island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometers (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. Nobel Laureate and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 of the 27 years he served behind bars before the fall of apartheid. Since then, three former inmates of the prison have gone on to become President of South Africa.
Wikipedia: Maximum Security Prison, Robben Island (EN), Website
14. Company's Garden
The Company's Garden is the oldest garden in South Africa, a park and heritage site located in central Cape Town. The garden was originally created in the 1650s by the region's first European settlers and provided fertile ground to grow fresh produce to replenish ships rounding the Cape. It is watered from the Molteno Dam, which uses water from the springs on the lower slopes of Table Mountain.
15. Mostert's Mill
Mostert's Mill is a historic windmill in Mowbray, Cape Town, South Africa. It was built in 1796 and was, until it was gutted in a wildfire on 18 April 2021, the oldest surviving complete windmill in South Africa. The fire had started on Table Mountain and spread, severely damaging a number of buildings. The oldest windmill in South Africa is the De Nieuwe Molen mill in Cape Town, built in 1782.
16. The Cenotaph
The Cenotaph is a war memorial on Heerengracht Street in Cape Town. The city's annual Remembrance Day ceremonies are held there. It is classified as a public memorial and as such is subject to protection in terms of heritage legislation administered by Heritage Western Cape, the provincial heritage resources authority of the Western Cape province of South Africa.
17. Koopmans-de Wet House
Koopmans-de Wet House is a former residence and current museum in Strand Street, Cape Town, South Africa. The house became part of the South African Museum in 1913 and was opened to the public on 10 March 1914. It was declared a National Monument under National Monuments Council legislation on 1 November 1940. It is the oldest house museum in South Africa.
18. Two Oceans Aquarium
The Two Oceans Aquarium is an aquarium located at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. The aquarium was opened on the 13 November 1995 and comprises several exhibition galleries with large viewing windows: The aquarium is named for its location, where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet.
19. St Mary's Cathedral
The St. Mary's Cathedral more formally known as the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flight into Egypt, is the cathedral and mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Town, located in the City Bowl of Cape Town, South Africa. in South Africa. It lies in Stalpein directly opposite the Houses of Parliament.
20. Iziko South African Museum
The Iziko South African Museum is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present site in the Company's Garden since 1897. The museum houses important African zoology, palaeontology and archaeology collections.
21. Rondebosch Fountain
Rondebosch Fountain is an ornamental Victorian drinking trough for horses, standing on a traffic island on the intersection between Belmont Road and Main Road in the centre of Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa. It was declared a National Monument on 10 April 1964.
22. South African Sendinggestig Museum
The South African Sendinggestig Museum was established in 1977 and is currently situated in the centre of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. It is a province-aided museum which receives support from the Government of the Western Cape Province.
23. Green Point Park
Green Point Common, is a park in Green Point, Cape Town, in South Africa, where numerous playing fields and a golf course are situated. The Green Point Urban Park & Biodiversity Garden is just behind Mouille Point and has an entrance on Bay Road.
24. De Nieuwe Molen
De Nieuwe Molen is the oldest and the largest extant mill in South Africa and was built in 1782 near the Black River. The mill is situated in the Alexandra Hospital in Maitland, Cape Town and was declared a National Monument in 1978.
25. Palm Tree Mosque
Palm Tree Mosque, or the Church of Jan van Bougies, or the Dadelboom Mosque, is a former residence and current mosque in Long Street, Cape Town, South Africa. It is the oldest substantially unaltered building in Long Street.
26. Nurul Islam Mosque
The Nurul Islam Mosque is a mosque in the Bo-Kaap area of Cape Town, South Africa. When it was founded in 1844, the structure could hold 150 worshipers. Renovated in 2001, it can now hold 700 worshipers.
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