Red Location Museum

Last updated
The Red Location Museum
Red Location Museum Exterior.jpg
Red Location Museum
Red Location Museum
Location Port Elizabeth, South Africa

The Red Location Museum is a museum in the New Brighton township of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Contents

Red Location Museum Exterior An aerial view of Red Location Museum in New Brighton township near Port Elizabeth.jpg
Red Location Museum Exterior

The museum was opened to the public on 10 November 2006 as a tribute to the struggle against Apartheid. [1] It is situated in a shack settlement [2] that is one of the oldest townships in Port Elizabeth. [3]

The area once housed a Boer concentration camp, but the camp's residents were moved in 1900 when the site would become one of the first few urban settlements for Black people. [2]

Architecture

The building was designed by Cape Town-based architect Jo Noero of Noero Architects. [1] The concept was inspired by the literary work of German-born professor Andreas Huyssen, whose work focuses on the idea of memory and history. It challenges the traditional notions of museum design. Instead of being treated as mere consumers of information, as in the case of conventional museums, visitors are encouraged to actively participate in the experience and navigate through it as they please with no set path.

Construction reportedly cost R22-million and the municipality was believed to be spending R300 000 a month on operating costs. [4] Similar to the surrounding informal settlements, the museum is made of corrugated iron boxes (12 in total) that are 6 x 6 x 12 metres.

The museum houses an auditorium, library, art gallery, a memorial space honouring local heroes of the liberation struggle and offices. There were plans of erecting an adjoining tomb where struggle heroes Raymond Mhlaba and Govan Mbeki would be buried, but this was not seen to completion when the heroes’ families refused to have the bodies exhumed. [5] The use of boxes was inspired by the boxes that migrant workers used to keep their treasured possessions when they were away from their families in rural areas.

Awards

Over the years, Noero Wolff Architects collected numerous awards for their work on the museum. In 2005, the building won the World Leadership Award for Public Architecture in London at the World Leadership Forum. The Royal Institute of British Architects International Award and the Dedallo Minosse Presidents Award from Italy were added to its accolades in 2006. In 2010, it was named the Most Outstanding Building Outside the EU by the Royal Institute of British Architects when it received the Lubetkin Prize. It won the Icon Building of the Year Award from Icon in London in 2012. [6]

Public resistance

In October 2013, after protests from Red Location residents over housing issues, the museum, library and gallery were closed. It has remained closed since. The residents demanded that the government fix their poorly constructed homes which had been declared structurally unsound. After the museum's closure in 2013, the government and the community reached an agreement to demolish and correctly rebuild 288 houses. The work was not done. Nelson Mandela Bay human settlements political head Nqaba Bhanga argued that Human Settlements Minister at the time Lindiwe Sisulu had discontinued the rectification of the shoddy construction jobs. [7] During violent protests windows were broken and other parts of the site were vandalised. Wiring, power sockets, fencing, air-conditioners and palisade fencing were also stolen from the premises. Repair costs for the building were estimated at R12-million but these have not begun. [7] One of the museum's security guards was fatally shot in front of the building in December 2013. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thabo Mbeki</span> President of South Africa from 1999 to 2008

Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is a South African politician who served as the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC). Before that, he was deputy president under Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999.

The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in apartheid-era South Africa between 9 October 1963 and 12 June 1964, after a group of anti-apartheid activists were arrested on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia. The farm had been the secret location for meetings of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the newly-formed armed wing of the African National Congress. The trial took place in Pretoria at the Palace of Justice and the Old Synagogue and led to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Denis Goldberg, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Motsoaledi, Andrew Mlangeni. Many were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Govan Mbeki</span> South African politician (1910–2001)

Govan Archibald Mvunyelwa Mbeki was a South African politician, military commander, Communist leader who served as the Secretary of Umkhonto we Sizwe, at its inception in 1961. He was also the son of Chief Sikelewu Mbeki and Johanna Mahala and also the father of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and political economist Moeletsi Mbeki. He was a leader of the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress. After the Rivonia Trial, he was imprisoned (1963–1987) on charges of terrorism and treason, together with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada and other eminent ANC leaders, for their role in the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He was sometimes mentioned by his nickname "Oom Gov".

Raymond Mphakamisi Mhlaba OMSG was an anti-apartheid activist, Communist and leader of the African National Congress (ANC) also as well the first premier of the Eastern Cape. Mhlaba spent 25 years of his life in prison. Well known for being sentenced, along with Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu and others in the Rivonia Trial, he was an active member of the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP) all his adult life. His kindly manner brought him the nickname "Oom Ray".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defiance Campaign</span> Defiance campaign in 1952

The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa in December 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conference. The demonstrations, taking place in 1952, were the first "large-scale, multi-racial political mobilization against apartheid laws under a common leadership."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Kathrada</span> South African politician (1929–2017)

Ahmed Mohamed Kathrada OMSG, sometimes known by the nickname "Kathy", was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uitenhage</span> Place in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Uitenhage, officially renamed Kariega, is a South African town in the Eastern Cape Province. It is well known for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent. Along with the city of Port Elizabeth and the small town of Despatch, it forms the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R75 (South Africa)</span> Regional route in South Africa

The R75 is a provincial route in Eastern Cape, South Africa that connects Graaff-Reinet with Gqeberha via Despatch, Kariega and Jansenville.

The M10 is a metropolitan route in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in South Africa that connects Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gqeberha</span> City in Eastern Cape, South Africa

Gqeberha, previously named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa's second-smallest metropolitan municipality by area. It is the sixth-most populous city in South Africa and is the cultural, economic and financial hub of the Eastern Cape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Modise</span> South African politician (1929–2001)

Johannes "Joe" Modise was a South African political figure. He helped to found uMkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress, and was its longest serving Commander in Chief, deputised at different points in time by Joe Slovo and Chris Hani. Modise headed MK for a 25-year period, from 1965 to 1990. He served as South Africa's first black Minister of Defence from 1994 to 1999 and led the formation of the post-independence defence force.

New Brighton is a township in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It forms part of the greater township of Ibhayi and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality which governs Port Elizabeth and its surroundings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liliesleaf Farm</span> 1960s safe house for African National Congress activitists

Liliesleaf Farm, also spelt Lilliesleaf and also known simply as Liliesleaf, is a location in northern Johannesburg, South Africa, which is most noted for its use as a safe house for African National Congress (ANC) activists during the apartheid years in the 1960s. In 1963, the South African police raided the farm, arresting more than a dozen ANC leaders and activists, who were then tried and prosecuted during the Rivonia Trial.

Jo Noero is a South African architect. Noero is an International Fellow of The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Red Location, Ilali Ebomvu, is one of the oldest townships in South Africa. It is situated in the township of New Brighton in Nelson Mandela Bay, Eastern Cape. It is commonly described as 'the umbilical cord of New Brighton'. It has its characteristic red appearance due to the corrugated deep red structures of the settlement which date back to the early twentieth century. These corrugated iron structures were sourced from a de-constructed concentration camp established in Uitenhage during the South African War. The recycled structures were painted red and consequently the oldest section of New Brighton became known as the Red Location. The township was aimed at housing black people and started development in 1902. Many prominent political and cultural South African leaders were born or spent time in the township.

The Donkin Heritage Trail is a 5 km self-guided walking trail along the old hill of central Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The Donkin Heritage Trail is named after the acting Governor of the Cape Colony, Rufane Shaw Donkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilton Mkwayi</span> African National Congress veteran

Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi OMSG was an African National Congress veteran and one of the first six members of Umkonto weSizwe to be sent for military training.

The following is a timeline of the history of Port Elizabeth in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Eastern Cape province, South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robben Island (prison)</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priscilla Jana</span> South African human rights lawyer (1943–2020)

Devikarani Priscilla Sewpal Jana was a South African human rights lawyer, politician and diplomat. As a member of the African National Congress (ANC) during the anti-apartheid movement, she participated in both legal activism as well as in the underground movement to end apartheid. She represented many significant figures in the movement, including South African president Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Steve Biko, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Jana was one of the very few South Africans who had access to political prisoners, including Mandela, in the maximum security Robben Island prison, and served as an emissary for coded messages between the political prisoners and the ANC leadership.

References

  1. 1 2 "Red Location Museum - Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth)". Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  2. 1 2 Red Location – Museum Project. Noero Architects. Accessed 18 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "Red Location Museum, Port Elizabeth – Noero Wolff". 1 January 2000. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Plessis, Carien du. "Red Location Museum held to ransom" . Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "Govan Mbeki reburial called off: South Africa: News: News24". 30 September 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Architecture awards won by Jo Noero of Noero Architects - Noero Architects". www.noeroarchitects.com. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 "Decaying Red Location Museum 'held ransom' over housing standoff - HeraldLIVE". 15 January 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.

33°53′53″S25°36′21″E / 33.898134°S 25.605708°E / -33.898134; 25.605708

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.