Housed in the old German private school building from 1915, this is a surprisingly good museum for a small mining town. The main draw is the mineralogy collection: dazzling specimens of dioptase, tsumebite, and dozens of other rare minerals extracted from the mine over a century of operation. A separate section covers German colonial history in the region, including artifacts from the 1904–08 Herero and Nama genocide period. Weapons recovered from Oshikoto Lake — dumped there by retreating German forces in World War I — are also on display.
Tsumeb Museum
Rare minerals and colonial history in an old German school
A story
The Tsumeb mine has produced over 220 distinct mineral species — many found nowhere else on earth — making it one of the most mineralogically diverse ore bodies ever discovered. Specimens from here are prized by collectors worldwide, and the museum holds some of the finest examples.