Iconic and Symbolic Exhibits
Church of the vow
The Church was built by the Voortrekkers in fulfilment of a vow they made to God before the Battle of Blood River/Ncome in 1838, that should He grant them victory over the Zulus in the battle they will come back and build a church is His honour, this vow can be seen in the adjacent building i.e Memorial Church.
Voortrekker House, 333 Boom Street
This is one of the oldest surviving double story buildings built in the early 1840s by the Voortrekkers using stone for the walls and thatch for the roof. The building predates the red brick buildings that later came to characterize the city, the building is a declared National Monument.
The Zulu Hut
The hut at uMsunduzi displays a replica of the set-up in a historical Zulu hut interior with various traditional items and adornments.
Hindu Shiva Temple
This temple is a replica of the Groutville Shiva Perumal temple, built by Perumal Naicker as a private shrine. Naicker was born in 1864 in Wornthur, India, he was a language scholar and teacher who founded the first Indian School at Tinley Manor. He also built the first Shiva Subrahmanya temple. In 1990 the temple was completely changed with only the original floorplan and the flagpole retained at the temple in Groutville in 1929.
Reconciliation Bridge
There are two independent museums at the site of the Impi yase Ncome/The Battle of Blood River, each representing one of the opposing sides in the battle. The Voortrekker side is memorialised at the site of the laager of ox wagons and the Zulu side at the Ncome Museum, on the opposite side of the Ncome River.
The Reconciliation Bridge was officially opened as both an iconic symbol and practical means of reconciliation as it serves to connect the Ncome Museum, which is representative of amaZulu perspective of the Battle and the Blood River/Bloedrivier Museum, representative of the Afrikaner perspective.
Isivivane (Cairn)
The significance of Isivivane is that it is a symbolic representation of the spirit of reconciliation, social cohesion and national building, which the Museum through its programmes is mandated to promote. As a gesture in support of reconciliation, social cohesion and nation building, visitors are requested, at the conclusion of the tour, to cast a stone into isivivane; visitors do this out of their own free will and the dictates of their consciences and aspirations.
Zulu Shields and Portraits
of Izingonyama
The outside walls of the exhibition halls are adorned with a range of sculptural representations of AmaZulu shields in an assortment of colours representative of some of the regiments that fought at Impi yaseNcome/Ncome Battle. On other parts of the walls are portraits of a succession of amaZulu kings from King Shaka to the recently departed monarch, King Zwelithini ka Bhekuzulu.
Ncome Buildings
Ncome buildings, in their iconic and symbolic architecture, are exhibits in their own right. Both the main administration building and the museum hall jointly conjure up the images of the shield and the buffalo horn offensive and defensive strategy of the Zulu armies.
KwaMkhulu Exhibition
KwaMkhulu Exhibition at Ncome is a reconstructed Zulu beehive hut (iqhugwane) which displays a replica of the set-up in a historical Zulu hut interior with various traditional items and adornments.
