SA Sendinggestig Museum

The story of enslavement is a theme that runs through the history of many of the Western Cape towns.  One such place where this story is told is the SA Sendinggestig Museum. The SA Sendinggestig was founded by the African Missionary Society in 1799. It is South Africa’s first slave church and oldest indigenous mission church still in its original structure. The Museum was established in 1979 to preserve the building in which it is situated, together with the legacy of Christian evangelisation amongst the enslaved and indigenous people of the Cape. 

Exhibitions include church furniture and objects, original documents, audio and visual files. The front church benches feature the names of the first eight enslaved people baptised at the church, and the floor has a representation of stars to commemorate the abolition of slavery in 1834 in the Cape. The main exhibition consists of ten illuminated panels, which showcases the church’s history, missionary work and information about the church community.