Jasper House Museum and the Bom Jesus Shipwreck

Heritage & Culture

Visiting Jasper House Museum in Oranjemund

At Jasper House Museum, a Portuguese ship lost in 1533 shares a building with the history of the diamond town where the wreck was found. Start with the Bom Jesus room, then walk through the displays about mine work and life in town. The building itself was the home of the mine’s first general manager and became a heritage centre in 1989. Museums Association of Namibia · Jasper House Museum room guide

The museum is on 7th Avenue, opposite SPAR. It lists opening hours of 09:00 to 16:00 on weekdays and 09:00 to 13:00 on weekends and public holidays. Call +264 63 234 323 to confirm hours and ask about admission, step-free access or a guided visit. On a weekend, make the museum your morning stop so you have time for the exhibits before closing. Museum hours and contact details

What is on display in the shipwreck room

The Bom Jesus sailed from Lisbon in 1533, bound for India. Workers found the wreck during diamond mining near Oranjemund on 1 April 2008. The recovered cargo included copper ingots, coins and ivory. Jasper House opened its dedicated exhibit in August 2024. It displays a selection of objects, with ingots, coins, navigating tools and kitchenware among the items listed by the museum. Exhibition launch announcement · Nautical Archaeology Digital Library

Look at the copper ingots alongside the smaller items people used aboard. The pairing gives you a sense of what the ship carried for trade and how people lived at sea. The recovered ivory has a story of its own. Researchers used DNA and isotope analysis to trace the tusks they studied to African forest elephants in West Africa. That finding connects a wreck off Namibia’s coast to the people and trade routes that supplied its cargo. Research on the shipwreck ivory

Mining history and daily life in the other rooms

Look for equipment from the Consolidated Diamond Mines era in the mining room. The migrant labour section has photographs and a contribution from Sylvanus Nekundi, who went from migrant worker to permanent Namdeb employee. In the Future Room, compare the aerial photographs of the town over time. These displays give you details to look for when you go back out into the streets. Museum room guide · Oranjemund’s diamond town history

If you’re visiting with children, start at the touch collection at the entrance. Ask them to choose one object that would have been useful to someone on board the ship, then spot a landmark in the aerial pictures they recognise. If you want to continue outside, the published town tour includes Tank Park and the old power station. Check with local tourism staff for current access and tour arrangements. Museum room guide · Oranjemund town tour

Make a final stop at the museum’s art installations if you have time. Look for Hercules Viljoen’s treatments of early mining and the shipwreck, and Saima Iita’s sculpture carved from a tree trunk. Pick one detail from the art and find its counterpart in a photograph, tool or object you saw earlier. Museum room guide

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Sources and visitor information

Cover photo Museum Oranjemund by Chtrede · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Resized without cropping.