University of Cape Town Library Burns
200-year-old Jagger Library University of Cape Town campus
South Africa: Table Mountain wildfire tears through Cape Town university library
‘These are all tragic heritage losses’, local official says as thousands of artefacts of African history caught in blaze.1
According to the University of Cape Town website, the Special Collections library consists of printed and audiovisual materials on African studies and a wide array of other specialised subjects, as well as over 1,300 sub-collections of unique manuscripts and personal papers. The collection of books and pamphlets exceeds 85,000 items on African studies alone.2 Images of the library after the fire was extinguished. 3
Wood, Vincent. “South Africa: Table Mountain wildfire tears through Cape Town university library.” Independent. April 19, 2021.
Yasantha Naidoo and Aron Hyman. “Two firefighters hospitalised as Cape Town heritage gems including Mostert Mill and UCT library gutted.” Times Live. 18 April 2021 - 18:06
Very very sad
What a tragedy to lose so many important historical documents! I hope at least some of them can be rescued and restored.