Robben Island Museum
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Overview
V & A Waterfront, Atlantic Seaboard, Cape Townphone: view phone+27 +21 411-1006
fax: view fax+27 +21 411-1059
website: http://www.robben-island.org.za
Description
For nearly 400 years, Robben Island, 12 kilometers from Cape Town, was a place of banishment, exile, isolation and imprisonment. It was here that rulers sent those they regarded as political troublemakers, social outcasts and the unwanted of society. During the apartheid years Robben Island became internationally known for its institutional brutality. The duty of those who ran the Island and its prison was to isolate opponents of apartheid and to crush their morale. Some freedom fighters spent more than a quarter of a century in prison for their beliefs. Those imprisoned on the Island succeeded on a psychological and political level in turning a prison 'hell-hole' into a symbol of freedom and personal liberation. Robben Island came to symbolize, not only for South Africa and the African continent, but also for the entire world, the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship and adversity. The Robben Island Museum tour starts at the Nelson Mandela Gateway building at the new Clock Tower precinct in the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, where the museum ticket office, shop and information centre is located. Ferries depart seven days a week at regular intervals throughout the day, weather permitting. The standard tour is presently 3 and a half hours long, including the two half-hour ferry trips there and back. Fares: adults R150, children (4 to 17) R75. Children below the age of 4 needn't pay, but their seats must be booked. For advance bookings and further details telephone 0214191300 or fax 0214191057. You can also email bookings@robben-island.org.za or visit www.robben-island.org.za for more information. Individuals and groups interested in holding conferences on the Island or at the Nelson Mandela Gateway building can contact Alison Barnard, at 0214095161 or email alisonb@robben-island.org.za
