McGregor Museum

The McGregor Museum is the headquarters of Kimberley’s museum service, housed in the old Kimberley Sanatorium in Herlear. Cecil Rhodes had the building put up in 1897, and during the Siege of Kimberley in the Anglo-Boer War he lived in a suite of rooms here. The museum itself dates from 1907 and opened in this building in 1976. If you are in Kimberley for the Big Hole, this is where to get the wider story of the region.

What to expect

The Ancestors Gallery covers around three million years of human history in the Northern Cape and is the strongest reason to come. Other displays deal with the Siege of Kimberley, the Kimberley Regiment, the First World War and the province’s road to democracy in the Journey to Democracy exhibition. There is also a section on the building’s later lives as the Hotel Belgrave and then a convent school, plus natural history displays on the local environment.

Tradition has it that the relief of the siege was announced to Rhodes in this building’s drawing room, by General French and Major Haig, so stand in that room for a moment.

Practical details

The museum is at 7 to 11 Atlas Street, Herlear, Kimberley. It opens Monday to Saturday and on public holidays, 9am to 4pm. Telephone +27 53 839 2700.

Good to know

The McGregor runs several other sites around Kimberley, including the Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre, the Duggan-Cronin Gallery, Rudd House and the Magersfontein battlefield museum. Ask at the desk about visiting them, as a couple of them pair well with this one in a day. Allow at least two hours here if you want to see the Ancestors Gallery properly.

Last updated 6 October 2026. Sources: McGregor Museum, Wikipedia.