Qunu and the Nelson Mandela Museum

The Village Nelson Mandela Grew Up In, Moved Back To, And Is Buried In With The Nelson Mandela Museum Across Three Sites: The Bhunga Building In Mthatha, A Youth And Heritage Centre At Qunu, And Mvezo, Where He Was Born. THE GRAVE IS A FAMILY SITE RATHER THAN A VISITOR ATTRACTION, And These Are Working Rural Villages Rather Than A Heritage Park · Mthatha, Eastern Cape

This set already holds the prison, the township, the massacre and the arrest. What it has never held is where the man came from. Nelson Mandela was born at Mvezo on the Mbashe river in 1918, grew up herding cattle at Qunu a few kilometres away, built a house at Qunu to the floor plan of the warder's cottage he had lived in at Victor Verster because it was the only home he had got used to, and is buried there, in the ground he grew up on. The Nelson Mandela Museum runs across three sites - the Bhunga Building in Mthatha, a youth and heritage centre at Qunu, and Mvezo - and it is modest, underfunded and well worth the detour. Two things must be said quite plainly. The grave is a family site and not a visitor attraction. And Qunu and Mvezo are working rural villages where people live, not a heritage park laid on for anybody, and the courtesy you would extend to any other village applies here.

In the Eastern Cape hills south-west of Mthatha, with the museum in the town and the homestead at Qunu, Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa

THE NELSON MANDELA MUSEUM IS THREE SEPARATE PLACES and they have not always all been open. The Bhunga Building in central Mthatha holds the main collection and keeps daylight weekday hours with shorter Saturdays; the Qunu youth and heritage centre is beside the N2 at the village; Mvezo is further out on rougher road. ALL THREE HAVE HAD FUNDING AND CLOSURE PROBLEMS, so telephone and ask which are open rather than driving out on spec. Entry has generally been free or nominal. THE GRAVE IS ON FAMILY LAND AND IS NOT A VISITOR SITE - do not go looking for it. THE N2 AND R61 APPROACHES ARE ROUGH with potholes and livestock, and should not be driven after dark. Mthatha has fuel, supermarkets, banks and a hospital. MALARIA-FREE.

Qunu and the Nelson Mandela Museum on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos