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{{Infobox museum
| name = CP Nel Museum
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| logo =
| image = Oudsthoorn CP Nel Museum.JPG
| caption = The facade of the museum building.
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| established = 1972
| dissolved =
| coordinates = {{coord|33|35|31.46|S|22|12|8.08|E}}
| location = [[Oudtshoorn]], [[Western Cape]]
| type =[[History museum]]
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| website = {{URL|http://www.cpnelmuseum.co.za/}}
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| imagesize =512
}}

The '''CP Nel Museum''' is a [[museum]] in [[Oudtshoorn]], [[South Africa]], which houses exhibits depicting the role of the [[ostrich]] trade in the town's history, as well as the cultural history and lifestyle of the people of the [[Karoo|Little Karoo]] region, as it was during the [[Victorian era]] and early 20th century.<ref name=SANet>{{cite web|url=http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-cp-nel-museum-oudtshoorn|title=CP Nel Museum|accessdate=2012-10-30}}</ref><ref name=Fodor>{{cite web|url=http://www.fodors.com/world/africa-and-middle-east/south-africa/the-garden-route-and-the-little-karoo/review-471698.html|title=C. P. Nel Museum|accessdate=2014-10-30}}</ref>

==History==
The original building was designed and erected in 1906 by a local British architect, Charles Bullock, and was opened in 1907 as the Oudtshoorn Boys' High School.<ref name=WCGov>{{cite web|url=http://www.westerncape.gov.za/facility/cp-nel-museum|title=CP Nel Museum|accessdate=2014-10-30}}</ref> A school hall was added to the building in 1912 by J.E. Vixeboxse.<ref name=GeorgeHerald>{{cite web|url=http://www.georgeherald.com/HolidayGuide/2013/pdf/OC/Page_8.pdf|title=Die CP Nel Museum|accessdate=2014-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224015819/http://www.georgeherald.com/HolidayGuide/2013/pdf/OC/Page_8.pdf|archive-date=2014-12-24|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=CPNel>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpnelmuseum.co.za/index.php?p=17|title=The Museum|accessdate=2014-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830041846/http://www.cpnelmuseum.co.za/index.php?p=17#|archive-date=2012-08-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>

By 1963, when Oudtshoorn's single-sex schools were amalgamated, the building was in such a state of disrepair that it was almost demolished.<ref name=CPNel/> However, a petition by the school's alumni convinced the [[National Monuments Commission]] to withdraw this recommendation. The [[Department of Education (South Africa)|Education Department]] decided instead to sell the building.{{to whom|date=October 2014}}<ref name=GeorgeHerald/> It was renamed in honour of Colonel CP Nel, who had bequeathed a valuable collection of antiques to the public. These antiques were transferred to the building in 1972, and the CP Nel Museum was officially opened.<ref name=CPNel/>

In 1979, the building was declared a [[National heritage sites (South Africa)|national monument]].<ref name=Heritage>{{cite web|title=C P Nel Museum, Baron van Rheede Street - 9/2/068/0007|url=http://196.35.231.29/sahra/HeritageSitesDetail.aspx?id=13143|publisher=[[South African Heritage Resource Agency]]|access-date=2014-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030022958/http://196.35.231.29/sahra/HeritageSitesDetail.aspx?id=13143#|archive-date=2014-10-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:CP Nel Museum Oudtshoorn.JPG|thumb|200px|A replica of an ostrich feather dealer's office at the museum.]]

==Present==
The school hall has been repurposed as the "Ostrich Hall" in order to exhibit the history of the ostrich in the Little Karoo's development. It includes in its displays a rock that has carved into it an image of running ostriches, which was discovered in the [[Sahara Desert]].<ref name="SANet" /><ref name=LonelyPlanet>{{cite web|url=http://www.lonelyplanet.com/south-africa/the-garden-route/oudtshoorn/sights/museums-galleries/cp-nel-museum|title=CP Nel Museum|accessdate=2014-10-30}}</ref> "Feather-boom fashions" are also on display.<ref name=Fodor/> The museum also exhibits an early 20th-century pharmacy; a crockery collection; military history and weapons; musical instruments; and a garage of historical vehicles.<ref name=SANet/><ref name="Gartour">{{cite web|url=http://www.gartour.com/item/the-synagogue-in-oudtshoorn-s-cp-nel-museum.html|title=The Synagogue in Oudtshoorn’s CP Nel Museum|date=2013-05-23|accessdate=2014-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030034234/http://www.gartour.com/item/the-synagogue-in-oudtshoorn-s-cp-nel-museum.html#|archive-date=2014-10-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The CP Nel Museum is one of a few secular museums in the world to house a synagogue. At the suggestion of Isidore Barron, who had been a member of the museum's Board of Trustees, the Jewish gallery was opened in 1973.<ref name=Gartour/> This room is a reconstruction of the old St. John Street [[Synagogue]] as it was in 1896,<ref name=GeorgeHerald/> and depicts the contribution of Oudtshoorn's Lithuanian [[Jewish]] community to the ostrich industry.<ref name=Fodor/> The synagogue is still occasionally used for services.<ref name=Gartour/>

The ticket price includes admission to the Le Roux Townhouse, which is decorated in authentic Victorian-era furniture, and depicts a "feather palace" during the Ostrich booms.<ref name=LonelyPlanet/>

In 2014, the museum updated its material to recognise the historical forced removals of non-whites from Oudtshoorn, and made its explanatory notes available in English, [[Afrikaans]], and [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], the three official provincial languages of the [[Western Cape]].<ref name=OudCour>{{cite web|url=http://www.oudtshoorncourant.com/news/News/General/77840/Nuwe-uitstallings-by-museum|title= Nuwe uitstallings by museum |date=2014-06-06|accessdate=2014-10-30}}</ref><ref name=WCLang>{{cite web|url=http://www.westerncape.gov.za/general-publication/western-cape-language-policy|title=Western Cape Language Policy|accessdate=2014-10-30}}</ref>

== Architecture ==
The building is a specimen of late Victorian, [[Colonial architecture|Colonial-style architecture]], and the hall is built in the New Republican style.<ref name=GeorgeHerald/><ref name=CPNel/>

The museum's 30-metre-high clock tower is adorned with Corinthian ornaments and is topped with a wrought-iron dome. The clock was made in England in 1902, and was transported in parts to [[Mossel Bay]] and then over the [[Outeniqua Mountains]] via ox-wagon. It had been ordered by Oudtshoorn resident Pierre Olivier in 1904, who decided to donate it to what was then the local boys' school. The clock was built into the tower in 1907.<ref name=GeorgeHerald/><ref name=GeorgeHerald2>{{cite web|url=http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE/2008-09/1222294370|title=Fixed clock makes Oudtshoorn retiree tick|last=Wicomb|first=Garnett|date=2008-09-23|accessdate=2014-10-30}}</ref>

The building's [[sandstone]] [[facade]] is considered one of the finest examples of stone [[masonry]] in the Little Karoo.<ref name=CPNelGen>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpnelmuseum.co.za/index.php?p=52|title=History|accessdate=2014-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150308123128/http://www.cpnelmuseum.co.za/index.php?p=52|archive-date=2015-03-08|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Willem Adriaan Cruywagen]], the [[Minister of Education (South Africa)|Minister of National Education]] who declared the building a national monument, gave the following reasoning for the certification:<ref name=Heritage/>

{{Quotation|Designed in part by Bullock and Vixseboxe, the well known architects, it reflects the former's copiousness and the latter's [[Transvaal Province|Transvaal Republic]] influence. Especially worthy of note is the facade, with its harmonious blending of styles and its impressive dome tower. [...]}}

==Further reading==
*Bakker, Karel A, Clarke, Nicholas J & Fisher, Roger C. 2014. Eclectic ZA Wilhelmiens : A shared Dutch built heritage in South Africa. Pretoria: Visual Books. pp 195.
*Fransen, Hans. 2004. The old buildings of the Cape. A survey of extant architecture from before c1910 in the area of Cape Town - Calvinia - Colesberg - Uitenhage. Johannesburg & Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers. pp 507.
*Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1977. Victorian Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: AA Balkema. pp 161, 163.
*Picton-Seymour, Désirée. 1989. Historical Buildings in South Africa. Cape Town: Struikhof Publishers. pp 87.
<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/bldgframes.php?bldgid=3248|title=CP Nel Museum, previously Boys' High School details|website=www.artefacts.co.za}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070623025348/http://www.cpnelmuseum.co.za/home.php Official site]
*[http://www.oudtshoorn.com/ Official website of Oudtshoorn]

{{coord|33|35|31|S|22|12|07|E|type:landmark_region:ZA|display=title}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:School buildings completed in 1906]]
[[Category:School buildings completed in 1913]]
[[Category:Natural history museums in South Africa]]
[[Category:Museums in the Western Cape]]
[[Category:1907 establishments in the British Empire]]
[[Category:1972 establishments in South Africa]]
[[Category:Oudtshoorn]]

CP Nel Museum - Revision history

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