Many kudos must be given to Johannesburg-based gold miner AngloGold Ashanti for its concerted efforts to preserve and promote the cultural and artistic heritage of African goldsmithing design and techniques. This is particularly noteworthy, given the strain and challenges South African mining companies, and the industry itself, have been subjected to in recent years.

The company’s first foray into the sphere of cultural gold heritage was undertaken more than a decade ago, when the company, then called AngloGold, bought the Geneva-based Barbier-Mueller museum’s world-renowned African gold collection. The collection consists of over 350 West African gold artefacts from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and is believed to be one of the world’s largest and most aesthetically important collections dedicated to the art of the African goldsmith.

It is an unfortunate reality that, during the colonial forays into Africa, many of the continent's treasures, particularly gold jewellery and artefacts, were taken and displayed in the museums of the various European empires.

The looting of African artefacts began as early as the midfifteenth century, when Portuguese colonialists discovered African arts and crafts with utter amazement. That is when European traders, adventurers and colonialists began engaging in profitable business ventures to obtain artefacts, which would eventually end up in princely courts and cabinets of curiosities, where they served as proof of the existence of civilisations in darkest Africa.

However, one must be grate- ful for the small mercy that African gold artefacts did not suffer the same fate as that of the South American Aztec and Inca gold relics, which were melted down into gold ingots and shipped to Spain and used as currency.

AngloGold acquired the Barbier-Mueller gold collection to bring that collection back to African soil and to provide a platform from which it could promote African gold and goldsmithing, which would, in turn, contribute to the preservation, transference and development of African goldsmithing design and techniques.

The vehicle through which that objective was to be achieved was the Gold of Africa Museum, which AngloGold established in late 2001.

The site chosen for the museum was the restored Martin Melck house, located on Cape Town’s famous Strand street. The house itself dates back to 1781 and was originally used as the parsonage for the adjacent Lutheran Church. (While it may seem odd that the museum was built in Cape Town, and not in the ‘City of Gold’, it should be borne in mind that the Mother City is far more the tourist hot spot and boasts a thriving creative-arts scene.)

At the time the museum was launched, the company remarked: “The Gold of Africa Museum meets two important objectives for AngloGold. The first is that the museum provides the platform to remind the public of the precious and desirable qualities of gold. Secondly, as one of the world’s largest gold producers, this initiative also affirms AngloGold’s pride in its African origin.”

In addition to displaying the Barbier-Mueller gold collection, the museum also showcased a selection of loaned gold artefacts from two of Southern Africa’s most important gold burial sites, Mapungubwe and Thulamela. Adding these artefacts served to contextualise the history of Southern African gold kingdoms, which thrived during the thirteenth century.

The collection was displayed in an unconventional modern installation, making it possible for most objects to be viewed in 360⁰, providing insight into the techniques used by the skilled goldsmiths who made the objects.

T

he AngloGold-funded museum complex also included a goldsmithing workshop and design library, which were aimed at making a major contribution to preserving and perpetuating traditional African goldsmithing skills as well as inspiring modern designs with African themes.

However, with South African gold miners under significant strain as a result of a myriad of challenges, it comes as little surprise that AngloGold Ashanti has embarked on a process to consolidate its marketing efforts in an attempt to achieve greater cost efficiency. One consequence of this strategy is that the company has removed both its gold collection and sponsorship of the Gold of Africa museum. According to company spokesperson Chris Nthithe, AngloGold Ashanti is in the process of relocating its gold collection to a site that is still to be determined. But it is presumed that the collection will be housed at a location a little closer to the company’s headquarters.

Despite the consolidation of its marketing efforts, AngloGold Ashanti insists that it is still committed to preserving the African gold heritage and showcasing outstanding examples of the goldsmithing tradition and techniques of the continent.

Regarding the future of the museum itself, museum director Christopher Till says: “The building which housed the collection, Martin Meckle House, will continue as a place and space dedi-cated to art and design, where exhibitions and activities dedicated to the promotion and education around creativity will feature.”