Overview | Profile | Projects | Exhibitions

Nelson Mandela exhibition

A permanent exhibition on Nelson Mandela is housed in the former hospital of the Old Fort. It consists of showcases with some of the many letters he wrote from Robben Island, photographs, and other artefacts of the famous prisoner. Two videos run continuously, one showing him on the island, working with a spade, the other shows him visiting the Constitutional Court in 2003.

Mahatma Gandhi exhibition

This exhibition, housed in the former visitors’ centre of Number 4 prison, focuses on the years Mahatma Gandhi spent in Johannesburg, from 1902 until 1914, when he left South Africa at the age of 46. Photographs and documents give an insight into the man behind Satyagraha, or the theory of passive resistance.

Rampart Walk

The Old Fort ramparts provide a unique vantage point over the site of Constitution Hill, Hillbrow and the city. The ramparts are paved, a bridge has been constructed in the gap in the northwest corner, and a staircase has been created on the northern ramparts, with a facility for the disabled. Visitors can also walk in the tunnels under the ramparts.

Three Women: Women's Jail

Daisy de Melker, Nomathemba Funani, Jrannie Noel - a murderer, an ordinary woman spurred to become a pass resister, a political activist from Durban; this is an installation in silk, sound and photographs that tells the stories of three very different women who spent time at the Women's Jail, in 1932, 1956, and 1976 and whose ghosts and memories still occupy its cells and corridors.

Memory Room and Documentation Room: Women's Jail

In the Memory Room visitors are invited to listen to recordings of former prisoners' memories and to record their own memories of and responses to Constitution Hill. Adjoining the Memory Room is a Documentation Room, out of which the Constitution Hill Archive will develop.