Swakopmund Museum
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| Established | 1951 |
|---|---|
| Location | Ludwig Koch Street, Swakopmund, Erongo Region, Namibia |
| Type | Natural history, ethnography and local history |
| Owner | Scientific Society Swakopmund |
| Website | sciswk |
The Swakopmund Museum is a privately run museum on the beachfront at Swakopmund, Erongo Region, Namibia, between the lighthouse and the sea. Dentist Alfons Weber founded it in 1951 after winning a municipal competition for a new town attraction. It is the largest private museum in the country. The Scientific Society Swakopmund owns it together with the Sam Cohen Library and archives. It is a separate institution from the Swakopmund Genocide Museum opened by Laidlaw Peringanda in Matutura in 2015.[1]
Town and site
Curt von François marked a landing place at Swakopmund in August 1892 as a German harbour after Walvis Bay remained under British control. A warehouse on the present museum site was destroyed in 1914 by a shot from the British armed merchant cruiser Kinfauns Castle. The museum moved here in 1960. The building is often described as standing on, or as a rebuild of, the early-20th-century Imperial Customs House (Kaiserliches Hauptzollamt). The street address is Ludwig Koch Street (also given as Strand Street), at the foot of the lighthouse.[2]
Founding
In 1950 the municipality asked for ideas to draw visitors. Weber, a dentist with an interest in history and natural history, proposed a museum and won. A coastal subgroup of the Scientific Society in Windhoek was formed in 1951 to keep the project going. In 1968 that group became the independent Society for Scientific Development, Swakopmund; the name Scientific Society Swakopmund was adopted in 2006. The society’s slogan is “Build on your heritage.” It also owns the restored Otavi Bahnhof and OMEG-Haus, national heritage buildings that house the Sam Cohen Library.
The Museums Association of Namibia held its founding meeting in this museum on 9 February 1991 and celebrated its 25th anniversary in Swakopmund in May 2015.[3]
Collections
Rooms cover the Namib Desert and the Atlantic coast as well as human history in Namibia.
Natural history. The Emil Jensen Herbarium holds Namib plants, including material on the !nara melon used by Khoekhoe communities. Zoological mounts include desert species (among them an aardvark). Geology cases show minerals, fossils, meteorites and semi-precious stones. A desert-elephant skeleton is used to show adaptations to sand. In 1990 the museum acquired the Bachran collection: archaeology, insects and what was then described as Namibia’s largest birds’-egg collection.
People of Namibia. A dedicated ethnography gallery presents dress and household objects associated with Herero, Nama, Damara, Ovambo and other groups, with labels on use rather than copies only.
Colonial and local history. Reconstructed interiors include a settler home and Emil Kiewietand’s pharmacy. Transport exhibits include an ox-wagon used on the Grootfontein–Angola road, the carriage of the last German governor, a model dual locomotive, lighthouse optics and gear from the building of the jetty (Mole, opened 1903). Military cases show Camel Corps uniforms. “Shell furniture” is household furniture made from 1930s petrol and paraffin tins. A modern panel treats the Rössing uranium mine.
A shop sells books and cards; a lecture hall shows films on request (including material on Swakopmund 1892–1915 and the Namib coast). Hours are commonly 10:00–17:00 every day.[4]
Sam Cohen Library
The library began with a handful of books and grew to more than 10,000 volumes, including the Ferdinand Stich Africana collection of about 2,000 titles. The society’s archive holds Namibian newspapers from 1898, photographs, maps and documents. Entrance is from Windhoeker Street at the Otavi station complex.
Related sites
Swakopmund also has the National Marine Aquarium, the Kristall Galerie and, outside town, the Martin Luther steam locomotive. The genocide museum in Matutura documents the 1904–1908 camps in Swakopmund and is run independently of the Scientific Society.
See also
- Swakopmund
- Swakopmund Genocide Museum
- Museums Association of Namibia
- Alte Feste
- Nakambale Museum
- National Marine Aquarium of Namibia
- Rössing uranium mine
References
- ↑ "Swakopmund Museum". Scientific Society Swakopmund. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ "Swakopmund Museum and Sam Cohen Library". Namibweb. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ "25 Years of Making Museums Matter 1990–2015" (PDF). Museums Association of Namibia. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
- ↑ "Swakopmund Museum". Museums Association of Namibia. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
External links
Coordinates: 22°40′34″S 14°31′23″E / 22.676°S 14.523°E
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