On 3 December, 1967 Christiaan Neethling Barnard lit a candle of hope amidst the darkness of apartheid when he performed the world’s first successful heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. Barnard’s pioneering operation caused a media frenzy, turned him into a medical celebrity and captured cardiac surgery into a new era of technical advances.

Forty years later the new Heart of Cape Town Museum, incorporates the original operating theatres where the transplant took place, honours Barnard, the surgeon who dared, and pays tribute to the pioneers of heart transplantion research in detail. The museum is, in short, a worthy celebration of one of the greatest scientific and emotional moments in medical history.

The Museum beautifully knits together the science and soul of the first human heart transplant, allowing visitors to carry away and conserve the majesty of the event.Exclusive buses will escort visitors to and from their hotel to the museum at a cost of only R50,00.