South African International Exhibition

The South African International Exhibition was a world's industrial fair held in held in Cape Town, South Africa in 1877.

Not to be confused with the South African and International Exhibition (Kimberley, 1892)[1]

Organised by a committee led by the opera impresario Signor Augusto Cagli, who spent 1876 canvassing American and European industries to exhibit, eventually obtaining 395 local and international exhibitors from 14 nations, among which the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal, the USA, India, Austria, Belgium, Bohemia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Prussia, Sweden and Switzerland.

The Exhibition was opened on 15 February 1877 by His Excellency Sir Henry Bartle Frere (1815-1884[2], and was housed on a building specifically erected for the exhibition on the grounds of the Lodge de Goede Hoop. According to Wikipedia the structure was built of wood, iron, and glass, measuring 14,352 square feet () in area and was 56 feet high. It cost £10,027 at the time.

After the exhibition, the main building was used as a multi-purpose assembly hall and a theatre, untill it sadly burnt down on 21 February 1892. Formally known as the Good Hope Exhibition Hall and Theatre, the venue was also referred to in theatrical circles and the public by many other names, including the Exhibition Hall, the Exhibition Theatre, the Good Hope Theatre, the Good Hope Hall or Goede Hoop Saal.