ledbyacademicsandSanconsultantsfrom
acrossSouthernAfrica.
Academicsincludecurrentmuseum
director,anthropologistDrChrisLow,an
affiliateofthePittRiversMuseum,Oxford
University,whohasworkedwiththeSan
foralmost 20 years.Largelyresponsiblefor
thedesignofthenewHeritageCentre,heis
supportedbya professional!Khwattuteam,
includinglocalexhibitiondesignerJosThorne,
eco-community,non-profitorganisation,
GondwanaAlive,andarchitectsKLG.
“HavingtheirownHeritageCentrebrings
extraordinaryprideto SanacrossSouthern
Africa,aswellasto localpeople who are of
Sanancestry,”continuesMichael. “At the same
time,manySanhaveverylittle idea about
otherSan,anddelightin discovering their
similaritiesanddifferences.”
WhensettingupthenewHeritage Centre,
theteamworkedcloselywith Iziko Museums
ofSouthAfrica,to ensurethat they maintain the
highestmuseumstandards.And the exhibitions
followtheSanmandateof‘telling our story in
ourownwords,past,presentand future’.
Inthefirsttworestoredfarm buildings,
respectivelynamedFirstPeople, and
Encounters,themesrangingfrom Sanstorytelling to archaeology, rock art, colonial
encounters, and current community initiatives
are presented in colourful pictures, photos,
films, digital maps and artefacts. We learn how
the San fit into accounts of human origins,
while the cruelty the San endured at the hands
of colonists is laid out with Swiss precision
and technology.
In the Encounters building the experience
has San history brought into recent times,
beginning with accounts of San as soldiers and
of San living in challenging environments,
before ending with positive stories of San
initiatives taking place across the Kalahari.
The material presented in these buildings is
visually striking and thought-provoking, but it’s
the new Way of the San structure that blows us
away. Embedded in the land lines of the ridge
that looks towards Yzerfontein and the Atlantic
Ocean, it is ingeniously designed to dissolve into
the landscape once the surrounding indigenous
vegetation grows over its curved roof.
“A major challenge is using a building
to tell the story of the life of ‘traditional’
San hunter-gatherers, a life lived outside,”
explains Michael. “It represents a shelter where
people gather to learn and to share.” With its
immersive, multimedia room, digital archive,
partly cantilevered roof, geothermal cooling
and heating, and essentially contemporary
architecture, the structure embodies old
wisdom combined with new technology,
for a sustainable future.
Displays present hunting, gathering,
healing, village life and music, but instead of
representing these themes in a Western style of
cataloguing knowledge, they reflect San ways
of thinking by using San quotations, plus film,ABOVE:TheSanwerecalledthePeopleoftheEland,andelandarefoundbothonthefarmand in the new Way of
theSanbuilding.BELOWLEFT:PetrusVaalbooiin theWayoftheSanbuilding,thelatestaddition to the museum
thatreflectsa pathwindingthrougha Sanhuntinggroundandleadingtoa Sanvillage.BELOW RIGHT: Traditional
Sandancing.TheHeritageCentreis tobetheEmbassyoftheSan,a placeofdignityandbeauty where they can
hostmeetingsandfestivities.
038HERITAGE ◗ !KHWA TTU