WONDERFUL THINGS EXHIBITION

AN EXHIBITION TO CELEBRATE:
TEN YEARS OF DEMOCRACY IN SOUTH AFRICA

Enquiries: Transvaal Museum, Education Department or Dr Francis Thackeray,
Venue: Transvaal Museum
Dates: 21 July 2004 until 31 October
Times: Monday to Saturday 9:00 - 16:00, Sunday 11:00 - 16:00

When Howard Carter looked into the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt, he was asked “what do you see?”  He held his breath, and as he gazed in wonder at the glitter of gold in a tomb that had been sealed for thousands of years, he said “Wonderful things”.

Those same words capture the spirit of an exhibition called “Wonderful Things”, to be held at the Transvaal Museum from July 21.  The exhibition is part of a celebration of ten years of democracy which South Africa is commemorating this year.  It provides an opportunity to put on public display some of the treasures of the Transvaal Museum.

Museums should not be dry dusty tomb-like places where objects are stored and left in obscurity. Museums are places where scientists and conservators take care of and study collections that are components of South Africa’s rich heritage, as part of world heritage.  Some of the “Wonderful Things” in this exhibition have never been placed on public display before.  They are exhibited together for the first time since the inception of the Northern Flagship Institution, to which the Transvaal Museum is affiliated as part of a network of museums in Gauteng.