The village of Modderfontein, founded in 1894, was the site of South Africa’s first dynamite factory which opened in the same year. Today the factory continues to operate (albeit quite differently from the way it did 100 years ago), and the AECI Dynamite Company Museum is located on Modderfontein’s quaint Main Street, nestled alongside a number of carefully preserved historic buildings that reflect the taste and style of turn of the century South Africa.

The small white­washed colonial­-style building housing the compact museum was originally the home of the first factory manager. Inside historic artefacts and plaques tell the explosive story of dynamite, starting with its invention in 1867 by Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel before moving onto detail the evolution of the dynamite industry in South Africa.

The small museum building sits on the property of the grand Franz Hoenig House, a perfectly restored mansion used mainly for functions and events. Although it is rarely open to the public, museum visitors are free to wander the beautiful gardens of Franz Hoenig House and photograph the massive old machines that now stand as monuments to the factory’s past.