African History, Contemporary Design And The Golden Link
Date: Thursday, November 22, 2001
The Gold of Africa Museum, located at 96 Strand Street in Cape Town, will open at the noon gun on Sunday 25 November 2001. The museum, another pioneering marketing initiative of AngloGold, will be the first dedicated to African gold.
The museum is groundbreaking on a number of fronts, including the innovative, custom-built installation housing the African gold artefacts, the process in developing the business strategy for the museum complex, the diverse international team of specialists assembled to realise the business plan.
Kelvin Williams, executive director, marketing, AngloGold said “The Gold of Africa Museum meets two important objectives for AngloGold. The first is that the museum provides the platform to remind the public of the precious and desirable qualities of gold. Secondly, as one of the world’s largest gold producers, this initiative also affirms AngloGold’s pride in its African origin. The acquisition by AngloGold of the Barbier-Mueller gold collection from a private museum in Geneva was based on a vision to establish a platform for the promotion of African gold and goldsmithing, which would contribute to the preservation, transference and development of African goldsmithing design and techniques. We hope that the museum will become a major tourist attraction, as well as an inspiration for African craftsmen, artists and goldsmiths.”
Christopher Till, curator of the Gold of Africa Museum, added, “The Gold of Africa Museum project is unlike any other museum project I have worked on, in that the input of the AngloGold marketing department brought to the project a very deep knowledge and passion for the subject of gold, as well as extremely strong communication and design skills. The exhibition content and layout were designed to convey the story of African gold throughout the ages in a powerful and clear, yet user-friendly manner.”
“The Gold of Africa Museum is unique to South Africa, in that the varied activities, ranging from a goldsmithing workshop to a wine cellar, will provide an exceptional and exciting museum experience,” said Katharine Price, museum complex manager. In addition, we hope that the upcoming promotional activities, such as night tours, walking tours and the temporary exhibitions will encourage people to continue to visit the museum well into the future. The complex will be an entertaining hive of activity, appealing to local and international visitors of all ages.”
The Barbier-Mueller collection, the principal exhibit at the museum, comprises over 350 West African gold artefacts, representing the best example of centuries-old goldsmithing techniques.
In order to expose the public to jewellery manufacturing skills, a workshop and design library are included on the museum premises. The workshop will marry ancient goldsmithing techniques with modern jewellery design. It is hoped that the interest stimulated in African gold at the museum will generate innovative new jewellery concepts and help to create synergy between the fashion and jewellery industries.
The Museum Shop boasts a wide range of exclusive products, including gold jewellery manufactured by the museum’s own workshop, opulent fabrics and other gifts, each with their own gold signature. Surrounded by “Mandela’s Gold” strelitzias, visitors will be able to relax in the sculpture garden over a glass of wine from the acclaimed Ashanti vineyard or whilst watching a video on African gold in the presentation suite.
The museum will be open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission for adults, scholars/students/pensioners and pre-schoolers will be R20, R16 and R10, respectively. Museum parking is available at the corner of Buitengracht Street and Strand Street.
Speech by Kelvin Williams
Disclaimer
Except for the historical information which may be contained herein, there maybe matters discussed in this news release that are forward-looking statements. Such statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. For a discussion of important factors including, but not limited to, development of the Company's business, the economic outlook in the gold mining industry, expectations regarding gold prices and production, and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, refer to the Company's annual report on the Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2000 which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 23, 2001.
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