Visit to Medical Museums

Groote Schuur Heart Transplant Museum

December 3, 1967, marked one of the greatest moments in medical history for South Africa – the world’s first heart transplant. A team led by Professor Christiaan Neethling Barnard performed the operation in the Charles Saint Theatre of Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital in Observatory.

Today the Heart of Cape Town Museum honours those who played a major role in a surgical feat that pushed the boundaries of science into the dawn of a new medical era. A and B theatres are the original general surgery theatres used for the first heart transplant. They remain laid out to create a fully authentic representation of the pioneering operation.

Relive a dramatic moment in medical history

Barnard was a brilliant surgeon who commanded great respect and admiration. He was an innovative researcher, dedicated caregiver, a great South African ambassador, writer, businessman and family man whose motto was, "One life is enough, if well lived."

Price

R400 per person including transport to and from the Museum and entrance fees (based on a minimum of 2 people)

Cape Medical Museum

The Cape Medical Museum, which was first opened in 1986, is housed in what was once the residence of the Medical Superintendent of the now defunct City Hospital for Infectious Diseases, built in 1900. The museum reflects medical history with an emphasis on both western and traditional medicine at the Cape.

There are turn-of-the-century reconstructions of a doctor's consulting room, a dispensary, a dentist's room, an operating theatre, a hospital ward, a display of hospital instruments, Sangoma's "bones" and many other interesting equipment.

Price

R200 per person including transport to and from the museum and entrance fees (based on a minimum of 2 people)