A rundown Georgian townhouse is to become a new museum celebrating the anti-apartheid movement.
The building at 28 Penton Street, near Angel, was formerly the London headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC). It was bombed in 1982 by members of the apartheid regime’s security services.
Caroline Kamana, director of the Liliesleaf Trust, the charity behind the new project, said the Centre of Memory and Learning is scheduled to open its doors in 2024.
Caroline Kamana said: “2024 is really significant, it will be 30 years since the first democratic elections were held in South Africa.
“We’ll have a wide programme that engages with the history of the anti-apartheid movement. We will essentially celebrate democracy and collaboration between people.”
The museum will house a permanent exhibition, a cafe, a community garden, an archive, a learning studio and a shared workspace, as well as areas for temporary exhibitions.
Construction is set to begin next year yet on the site, which extends into a plot in White Lion Street.
The focus of the building work will be on extending the townhouse and configuring the site for public access.
The main funder for the project is the mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund which supports regeneration projects. It has already awarded the Liliesleaf Trust a grant of £1 million for the museum.
Additional funding during the development stage has come from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which has provided the project with over £250,000.
It is expected that the Liliesleaf Trust will require a further £300,000 from the fund for the re-development of the site, as well as enough money to run the museum in its first three years, before construction work can begin.
Some elements of the building, including the gates to the garden, are likely to be co-designed with community groups such as Manor Gardens Centre and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School.
The Liliesleaf Trust aims to run its own community groups from the new centre, including a young archivists group for those under 25 and not necessarily in formal education.
To learn more about the Liliesleaf Trust and the proposed museum on Penton Street, visit antiapartheidlegacy.org.uk
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