Transvaal Museum
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The Transvaal Museum is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa.
It was founded as the Staatsmuseum (Afrikaans for "State Museum") of the ZAR on the 1 December 1892, and J. W. B. Gunning was appointed as first director.
The Transvaal Museum curates large collectons of Plio-Pleistocene fossils, (including hominids from Sterkfontein, Swartkrans and Kromdraai in the Cradle of Humankind), as well as late Permian therapsids (mammal-like reptiles from the Karoo). In addition the museum holds very large collections of mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates (especially lepidoptera and coleoptera).
The current Director the Transvaal Museum is Dr Francis Thackeray.
The Transvaal Museum was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based National Cultural History Museum (also called the African Window) and the South African National Museum for Military History (situated in Johannesburg) on 1 April 1999 to form the Northern Flagship Institution. The Institution is managed by a chief executive officer and a board, which replaced the three separate previous museum boards.
The museum is located in Paul Kruger Street, between Visagie and Minnaar Streets, opposite the Pretoria City Hall. It is open from 8:00 to 16:00 seven days a week, except certain public holidays.
