Robben Island Museum |
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From the 17th to the 20th centuries, Robben Island served as a place of banishment, isolation and imprisonment.
The museum is a dynamic institution, which acts as a focal point of South African heritage. It runs educational programmes for schools, youths and adults, facilitates tourism development, conducts ongoing research related to the Island and fulfils an archiving function. Vision Robben Island Museum operates as a site and living museum. It aims to develop the Island as a national and international heritage and conservation institution. In managing its resources and activities, RIM will strive to maintain the unique and universal symbolism of the Island, nurture creativity and innovation as well as to contribute to the socio-economic development and transformation of the South African society and enrich humanity. Mission In implementing its vision, RIM focuses on the following core purposes:
Contact details: Telephone: +27 (0)21 409 5100 Operating hours: History of Robben Island People lived on Robben Island many thousands of years ago, when the sea channel between the Island and the Cape mainland was not covered with water. Since the Dutch settled at the Cape in the mid-1600s, Robben Island has been used primarily as a prison. Indigenous African leaders, Muslim leaders from the East Indies, Dutch and British soldiers and civilians, women, and anti-apartheid activists, including South Africa's first democratic President, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and the founding leader of the Pan Africanist Congress, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, were all imprisoned on the Island. Robben Island has not only been used as a prison. It was a training and defence station in World War II (1939-1945) and a hospital for people with leprosy, and the mentally and chronically ill (1846-1931). In the 1840s, Robben Island was chosen for a hospital because it was regarded as both secure (isolating dangerous cases) and healthy (providing a good environment for cure). During this time, political and common-law prisoners were still kept on the Island. As there was no cure and little effective treatment available for leprosy, mental illness and other chronic illnesses in the 1800s, Robben Island was a kind of prison for the hospital patients too. Source: Robben Island Museum |