UCT Fire - 1 year on

On Sunday, April 18, 2021, a blaze swept through the mountain above Philip Kgosana Drive in Cape Town.

The runaway fire lost control and began eating its way to the University of Cape Townʼs (UCT) Rondebosch campus.

On its path of destruction, the blaze damaged four UCT buildings.
The inferno ravaged 600 hectares of land, leaving almost 4000 students displaced.
UCT's iconic Jagger Reading Room suffered the most damage.
Jagger Reading room is also dubbed as one of the most famous and precious libraries on the African continent.
The reading room, previously known as JW Jagger Library, was built in the 1930s.
The facility was home to the African Studies collection, which started in 1953.
It was also home to other collections of journals, ephemera, manuscripts, film and video, maps and rare antiquarian books.
The collection of books and pamphlets exceeded 85 000 items on African studies alone.
The African Studies film collection, the most extensive globally, with more than 3 000 films, was lost in the fire.
Fortunately, other important cultural collections such as Black Sash and the Bleek and Lloyd Collections could be salvaged.
The Bolus Herbarium, established in 1865, the oldest functioning herbarium in South Africa, was also salvaged.
Now, 12 months after the fires, the University says most repair work is completed.
Most of the salvaged materials are now stored at various campus locations.
About 800 crates of salvaged material are now in deep fridge storage for an ongoing conservation process.
The conservation and restoration process is anticipated to be a multi-year process.