
This second oldest building in Cape Town housed enslaved people who had been bought by the VOC. The residence was built in 1679 and used to imprison enslaved and mentally ill people. Women were also threatened with rape. It was open daily from 8 to 9 p.m. for free men who could have their way with the women housed there for a small fee. The building was dark and cold, built like a prison, with barred windows. Until 1811, about nine thousand enslaved people, convicts and the mentally ill were held here, after which the building was repurposed as a government office and supreme court. From 1966 it served as a South African Cultural History Museum, which paid little attention to the history of slavery, but instead exhibited wax models of indigenous people alongside stuffed animals. In 1998, the Slave Lodge regained its former name and is now a museum dedicated to slavery and its legacy.
Sources
- Iziko Museums of South Africa. (n.d.). Slavery in South Africa. [online] https://slavery.iziko.org.za/.