We are pleased to announce the launch of the StoryMap,

Picturing uMgungundlovu: iNkosi Dingane kaSenzangakhona’s capital 1829–1838.

‘Picturing uMgungundlovu’ is an account of the Zulu king Dingane’s capital, its intense existence over a period of just nine years followed by its abandonment, and its coming back into view through archaeological and digital research. Our account draws on a range of different sources including the collections of the KwaZulu-Natal Museum.

‘Picturing uMgungundlovu’ presents our efforts to piece together the story of uMgungundlovu. It builds on years of collaborative work between the Five Hundred Year Archive, the metsemegologolo project and curators in Human Sciences at the KwaZulu-Natal Museum. The Five Hundred Year Archive has digitized the uMgungundlovu archive since 2014, and created a website portal to the various materials that are dispersed across several institutions (EMANDULO). The StoryMap was created under the ‘Reframing the African Past’ project directed by Stefania Merlo and Carla Klehm and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2024/2025).

The launch of ‘Picturing uMgungundlovu’ coincides with International Museum Day as an example of how museum collections can be mobilized for story telling in the digital age.

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Connecting Ancient Towns to Contemporary Communities

Museums are no longer just places for the past. They are spaces that link history to today’s world and bridge our understandin of different times and cultures. We are highlighting a video that is posted on our Youtube channel, showing how digital platforms keep evolving conversations about cultural heritage.

Metsemegologolo – meaning ‘ancient towns’ in Setswana – is a digital project that highlights the history of Tswana towns in South Africa and Botswana. It shows the vibrant urban heritage that existed before modern national borders.

In the past, many towns and homesteads thrived across south-eastern Africa. These settlements formed a complex cultural landscape, often overlooked by colonial history. Metsemegologolo brings this history to life using digital tools and research. It is a collaboration of scholars from many fields, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s African Digital Humanities programme (Afridig).

In line with the theme of International Museum Day 2025 – 'The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities' – Metsemegologolo uses digital experiences to make these stories accessible. It shows how technology can help people explore their heritage and encourage conversations about a sustainable future.

As the world faces big changes, Metsemegologolo shows how museums and digital projects can preserve the past while helping us understand and connect in new ways.

📺 Watch the Metsemegologolo video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KpV9fi6UA4

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Take your learners beyond the classroom and into a world of discovery with the KwaZulu-Natal Museum’s engaging, CAPS-aligned educational offerings. Our hands-on lessons are designed to deepen understanding through real-world experiences, complete with experiments, video presentations, authentic specimens and artefacts, and guided gallery tours.

Here’s what we have in store for Term 2:

🔍 Formal Lessons
Our in-house lessons make use of fascinating specimens, interactive gallery tours, and learner-friendly resources like notes and worksheets. It’s a great way to bring textbook topics to life.

🚐 Sabalala Nolwazi (Outreach Programme)
Can’t make it to the Museum? We’ll come to you! Our outreach team offers curriculum enrichment lessons for Grades 4–7 in both Natural Sciences and Social Sciences, right at your school.

🏛️ A Day at the Museum
Take a journey through history with this immersive experience that includes educational presentations, DVD screenings, and a guided tour of the Museum’s Freedom Gallery. Perfectly aligned with grade-specific history topics, this program helps learners understand the significance of historical events in a meaningful way.

Interested in booking an educational experience with us?
📞 Call us on 033 345 1404 or
📧 Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out more or to make a booking.

Let’s turn learning into an unforgettable adventure!

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The KZN Museum’s Exhibitions Department recently welcomed first-year Digital Arts students from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) for an inspiring talk as part of their Digital Theory module.

The session focused on the fascinating world of the magic lantern, a 17th-century invention that used light and lenses to project hand-painted images onto walls and screens. Long before movies and virtual reality, this device dazzled audiences with incredible visual displays that combined storytelling, science, and optical illusions.

Students learned how the magic lantern was used in everything from ghostly phantasmagoria shows that “summoned spirits” in dark, smoky rooms to beautifully detailed slides that brought far-off lands, fairy tales, and scientific concepts to life.

Far from being just a quirky historical gadget, the magic lantern played a major role in shaping the way we experience visual media today. It laid the foundation for cinema, animation, immersive theatre, and even today’s AR and VR technologies.

At its core, the magic lantern demonstrated the power of combining light, movement, and emotion to tell stories, an approach that continues to shape how we connect with content on every screen we watch.

This engaging session gave students a glimpse into the past, while also highlighting just how deeply those early innovations continue to influence the future of digital art and design.

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Picturing uMgungundlovu: iNkosi Dingane kaSenzangakhona’s capital 1829–1838.

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