Old Church Folk museum and Earthquake museum
The museum complex consists of four historic buildings all situated on church street in Tulbagh.
The Oude Kerk Volksmuseum, built in 1743 and established in 1925, is one of the oldest museums in the Western Cape. Its theme is: “The Development and History of the Tulbagh Valley”. The museum complex consists of four very historic buildings in Tulbagh: The Oude Kerk (Old Church), one of the last surviving cruciform churches built by the VOC (Dutch East India Company) is still in its original form with a unique collection of Cape furniture and a restored historic cemetery. Amongst other items is the original table on which the capitulation of the Dutch to the British was signed in 1806.
The earthquake museum commemorates the devastating 1969 Earthquake which laid several Boland towns in ruins and which gave rise to the resurrection of Church Street, Tulbagh in its 1870 form.
The Victorian house museum is an excellent example of a rural Victorian house, depicting the lifestyle of a rural middle-class family in the Victorian era. With its dark drapes and upholstered chairs, the Victorian House Museum is currently being worked on and will eventually have its unique textiles on display as well.
The Pioneer House Museum depicts the lifestyle of a typical working-class family in the period circa the 1800 – 1920s. There’s a red-walled period kitchen with an open hearth, a simple room with a rietdak ceiling, a more formal voorkamer with a wooden ceiling, and an eclectic collection of old kitchen implements, furniture, and china.
4 Church Street, Tulbagh
