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National Library of South Africa-Cape Town Campus Review
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National Library of South Africa-Cape Town Campus
- Address: 5 Queen Victoria St., (enter through Company's Gardens), Cape Town Central, Cape Town
- Phone: 021/424-6320
- www.nlsa.ac.za
- Category: Libraries
- Location: Cape Town Central
Fodor's Review:
Launched as the National Library in 1999, with the amalgamation of the State Library in what was then Pretoria and the South African Library here, this library owes its existence to Lord Charles Somerset, governor of the Cape Colony. In 1818 he imposed a wine tax to fund the creation of a library that would "place the means of knowledge within the reach of the youth of this remote corner of the Globe." In 1860 the library moved into its current home, a neoclassical building modeled after the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. The library has an extensive collection of Africana, including the works of many 18th- and 19th-century explorers, and an impressive map collection that attracts worldwide attention. At last count the enormous postcard collection numbered more than 10,000 pieces.
- Cost: Free
- Open: Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. 9-5, Wed. 10-5
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