Page 200 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - South Africa

198  THE WESTERN AND SOUTHERN C APE

Exploring Stellenbosch has an eclectic stock ranging
from bottled preserves,
The heart of the Winelands, this beautiful university town biltong and other South
was founded in 1679 and is the cradle of Afrikaans culture. African delicacies, basketry,
Its proud educational heritage began in 1863 with the candles and curios to
establishment of the Dutch Reformed Theological Seminary. 19th-century butter churns,
plates and kitchen utensils,
The Stellen bosch College, completed in 1886, was the clothing and straw hats.
forerunner of the university, which was established in 1918. Visitors may also browse in
Today, the university buildings are beautifully integrated Samie’s Victorian Wine Shop
with the surrounding historic monuments, reinforcing the for a special vintage.
town’s dignified atmosphere of culture and learning.
E Toy and Miniature
Museum
P Rhenish Complex Market St (next to tourist information
Herte St. office). Tel 079 981 7067.
This lovely group of old Open 9am–4:30pm Mon–Fri,
build ings, which is flanked by 9am–2pm Sat & Sun. Closed Sun
two modern educational (May–Aug). & = ∑ stelmus.co.za
centres – the Rhenish Primary The Toy and Miniature
School and the Rhenish Museum offers a world of
Girls’ High School – is enchantment for both young
representative of most of and old and is well worth a
the architectural styles that visit. Housed in the Rhenish
have appeared in Stellen bosch Parsonage of 1815, the
over the centuries. museum is the first of
Parts of the Cape Dutch- its kind in Africa. On display
style Rhenish Parsonage are is an amazing collection of
much older than the date old toys, including antique
of 1815 that is marked on the Old-world interior, Oom Samie se Winkel dolls and Dinky Toy motor cars,
building’s gable. as well as a model railway
Leipoldt House, which was P Oom Samie se Winkel layout and miniature houses.
built around 1832, is an inter- 84 Dorp St. Tel 021 887 0797. The museum also boasts a
esting combination of Cape Open 8:30am–5:30pm (to 6pm number of finely detailed and
Dutch and English Georgian summer) Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm exquisite 1:12 scale miniature
architectural styles, while the (to 5:30pm summer) Sat, Sun. rooms, each with delicate
Rhenish Church, on the south Closed 1 Jan, Good Fri, 25 Dec. filigree work.
side of The Braak (the town’s This charming, restored On sale in the small museum
main square), was erected in Victorian shop, whose name shop are furniture and access-
1823 by the Missionary Society means “Uncle Samie’s Store”, ories for dolls’ houses, as well as
of Stellenbosch as a training has been operating as a mementos of the museum’s
centre and school for slaves general store since 1904. Its unique treasures.
and “coloured” people. original proprietor, bachelor
Also overlooking the Braak Samie Volsteedt lived in E The Stellenbosch
is St Mary’s-on-the-Braak the house next door. The Village Museum
(see p197), an Anglican church store, a Stellenbosch institution 37 Ryneveld St. Tel 021 887 2937.
completed in 1852. and a national monument, Open 9am–4:30pm Mon–Sat, 10am–
4pm Sun. Closed Good Fri, 25 Dec.
& 7 - ∑ stelmus.co.za
This complex features houses
dating from Stellenbosch’s
early settlement years to
the 1920s, although the
Edwardian and other early
20th-century houses are not
open to the public.
The museum features four
buildings. Schreuder House
was built in 1709 by Sebastian
Schreuder. It is the oldest of the
homes and shows the spartan,
simple lifestyle of the early
settlers. Bletterman House,
The Rhenish Complex, a splendid example of Cape Dutch architecture erected in 1789, belonged to
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp385–6 and pp402–3

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