Jeffreys Bay Galleries and Museums

The Ron Belling Art Gallery is situated in a beautiful Art Deco house built in 1936. Designed by Gertruida Brinkman, the first woman architect to graduate in South Africa, it is recognized as a significant example of the Early Modern Style. The house has been modified tastefully as a modern art gallery and both the building and the privately owned collection are available for the benefit of the larger community. Ron Belling was South Africa’s foremost aviation artist who produced 1650 paintings during his lifetime. Many of these are exhibited at the gallery, dedicated to his memory in Port Elizabeth. The gallery also exhibits examples of the Marine and Junkers series, the latter almost completed at the time of his death and are on loan from the Ron Belling Memorial Art Trust. Open Monday to Friday 10:00 – 16:00. Weekends on the first Saturday and Sunday of the Month 10:00 – 13:00; third and fourth Saturday of the Month 10:00 – 13:00. Closed every second weekend of the month (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) and religious holidays. A nominal admission fee is payable.

A symbol of our freedom and unconventional in terms of museum design, the Red Location Museum is definitely worth a visit. Red Location is one of the oldest townships of Nelson Mandela Bay, named for the corrugated iron barrack buildings which have rusted to a deep red. Many famous political and cultural leaders lived in Red Location and a number of significant ‘struggle’ events occurred during Apartheid. Museum visitors are treated as active participants rather than consumers. The past is represented as a set of memories, disconnected yet bound together by themes using the concept of the Memory Box. This was inspired by the boxes that migrant labourers used for storing their precious possessions when separated from their families. Red Location also draws together the strands of struggle that commemorate the efforts by different groups to free themselves. The museum complex includes an art gallery, market, a creative arts centre, library, adult literacy centre and a conference venue. Corner Olof Palme and Singaphi Streets, New Brighton +27 (0)41 408 8400 Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10:00 - 16:00 Saturday at Sunday 09:00 - 15:00.

Situated right in the city centre, No 7 Castle Hill is a picturesque Victorian cottage museum dating back to 1827. It's one of the oldest remaining houses in Port Elizabeth and is furnished as a family home of the mid-Victorian period, depicting the early Settler way of life.Need to know? Staff will provide general tours or special interest tours on request. To arrange this, please contact +27 (0)41 582 2515.

Rainy day in the Bay? Why not check out what's up at PE Museum at the Bayworld Complex. Situated on the main beachfront, it delivers a feast of education and entertainment to thousands of visitors each year. March the kids straight to the life-sized reconstruction of the giant prehistoric dinosaur known as Algoasaurus that once lived here. Another leviathan for your pipsqueaks to gawk at is the 15 metre skeleton of the last Southern right whale harpooned in Nelson Mandela Bay. Wannabee pirates will dig the replica of the Dias Cross and a five metre bronze cannon dated 1640, salvaged from a Portuguese galleon wrecked near Port Elizabeth. The Port Elizabeth Museum is a wonderful blend of cultural and natural history and is the third oldest in South Africa. Displays include the Dinosaur, Marine, Bird, Maritime History, Costume and Local History Halls, as well as a Curiosity Corner, Xhosa Beadwork Gallery and the First People of the Bay. Diverse temporary exhibits in the fields of natural science, archaeology and geology regularly spice up what’s on offer. Definitely worth a visit! Open 09:00 – 16:30 every day of the year, except on Christmas Day, 25 December.