Europe’s first anti-apartheid museum to open in London

Anti-apartheid museum to launch in London

A £3.5 million (over R80 million) Islington-based project will set out to transform the former London headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC), into the Centre of Memory and Learning – a new anti-apartheid museum.

As reported by The Standard, the museum will also be Europe’s first ever anti-apartheid museum and will feature a permanent exhibition, archival material and gallery space.

“It is fitting that in the 30th anniversary year of South Africa’s democracy, we celebrate Europe’s first museum dedicated to South Africa’s heritage and the global solidarity that supported its freedom,” South African High Commissioner to the UK, J.N. Kingsley Mamabolo said at the groundbreaking event.

“The road to 1994 was long and painful, but unity prevailed. In 2024, we reflect on lessons learned, building the world we aspire to. I’m proud that South African history, a global history, will inspire action, solidarity, and cooperation at this centre.” he added.

‘Learn about the past and apply it to today’

Veteran anti-apartheid activist and former Government minister Lord Peter Hain, who was also present at the ceremony, added that he hoped the new anti-apartheid Centre of Memory and Learning would not only allow people to learn about the past, and the most institutionalised system of racism the world has ever seen, but also to apply some of the lessons of that to today.

“We still face terrible problems of racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and all sorts of other forms of discrimination, and it’s really important that the values of the anti-apartheid struggle are remembered through this centre, whether by children or by other visitors, and then applied to [the] modern day.” Lord Hain said.

The Centre is set to open next year, at 28 Penton Street, which used to be the central hub for international opposition to South African apartheid between 1978-1994