In a time when travel by ship entailed months of travel and perils one couldn’t predict, 15, 000 families left their homes from various villages in Eastern Europe to make the journey to South Africa. They set up what is now known to be one of the largest Jewish diasporas in the world. Their arrival brought along religions and customs unheard of in the region, resulting in the construction of the first Synagogue in Cape Town.

Located within the Museum Trail of Cape Town as an extension of the Old Synagogue, the South African Jewish Museum tracks the lives of these pioneering 15, 000 families in a painstaking effort of curation. The Albow Centre isn’t just a house of history but a living embodiment, the museum’s towering white columns typical of Jewish architecture. Melding old and new one sees stained glass windows and intricate mosaics interjected by flat screen panels and digital displays present to create a more interactive learning journey. What brings out the fusion of cultures most prominently is likely the netsuke, one of the finest collections of Japanese miniature art in the world used to retell the assimilation of Jews in the region. You had better be prepared to engage your senses to the fullest in this blast to the past.