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The Slave Lodge | by Mervyn Hector
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The Slave Lodge

The Slave Lodge, the second oldest building in Cape Town, was a windowless brick structure built to house the slaves of the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie. (VOC) (The Dutch East India Company) The building's dilapidated and filthy state was reported throughout the 18th century. Besides serving as a labour force for the Company, slaves also worked in the adjacent VOC gardens, as well as in the hospital opposite the Lodge. By 1782 almost two thirds of the inhabitants of the Company's outposts in the Cape Colony were slaves.

It is believed that up to 90000 slaves, convicts and the mentally ill lived in the building between 1679 and 1811. After the abolition of slavery it served as various governmental offices. In 1960 the building was restored and on the 6th April 1966 became part of the SA Cultural Museum. In 1998 it was renamed The Slave Lodge and today it is part of the Iziko Museums of Cape Town. Ironically, it is adjacent to the Houses of Parliament.


Depicted here in the foreground is a statue of FIELD MARSHALL JAN CHRISTIAAN SMUTS 1870 - 1950: Boer War Hero, Soldier, Statesman, Naturalist, Philosopher, and later Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa for the period; 1919-1924 and 1939-1948. He was one of five members of the British War Cabinet in both World Wars. Smuts was also the only one to sign both peace treaties ending the first and second world wars. He was a founding champion of the League of Nations and later the United Nations, and was the only one to sign both charters of these organizations. Source: Iziko, Wikipedia and others. *** BEST VIEWED LARGE***

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Uploaded on July 4, 2008