The Shell Museum at the Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex

The Shell Museum at the Dias Museum Complex portrays the history of our use of shells. A touch tank provides an opportunity to touch live sea animals. The Department of Environmental Affairs presents marine and coastal educational programmes to scholars at the museum.

• Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex
• Private Bag X1, Mossel Bay, 6500
• 1 Market Street, CBD, Mossel Bay
• Phone: +27 (0)44 691 1067
• Fax: +27 (0)44 691 1915
• Email: amunro@deat.gov.za
• Homepage: http://www.diasmuseum.co.za

Historical Background

The Shirley Building – named for Joe Shirley, who once used it for his plumbing business – was built in 1902 as an annex of the old mill (now the Maritime Museum). It served as a storage facility, furniture factory, and motor garage before it was restored and opened as the Shell Museum in 1988 (concrete slabs found during renovations indicate that it might also at one time have been used by a wheelwright).

The displays in the Museum are arranged in a spiral pattern similar to the interior shape of a gastropod. Displays include aquaria, a model of a giant squid (Architeuthis sp.), a touch tank, the ‘Man and Mollusc’ exhibition which explores how shells have been used over the ages, a whales and dolphins exhibit, and South Africa’s largest collection of terrestrial, fresh water, and marine shells.

INFORMATION

Access the Shell Museum via the Dias Museum Complex (entrance at The Granary). The Complex is open daily except Christmas Day and Good Friday.

More information: www.diasmuseum.co.za/shell.html

• Latitude    34°10’50.16″S
• Longitude   22° 8’28.79″E

Download a pdf booklet on the Museums of Mossel Bay here.

Tags: Bartolomeu Dias Museum Complex, dias museum, mossel bay, shell museum