The General Dealer Store & Ark Contemporary Art Gallery
Rosendal’s old General Dealer building, probably the town’s first store, was fully restored in 2018. It now houses an art gallery—Ark Contemporary Gallery. It is a collective of six local artists resident in Rosendal, with national standing and profiles, but also curates the work of other artists from time to time.
Gallery Hours:
Thursday 10 – 4
Friday 10 – 5
Saturday 9 – 5
Sunday 9 – 2
Monday by appointment only
History of the Rosendal General Dealer Building
Built in 1912 this is Rosendal’s first and most prominent commercial building. Kriek Street was on the main road from Senekal until 1958 and the General Dealer was situated at a prominent crossroads on the entrance to town. A General Dealer store was an important centre of rural commerce in the Free State of the early 20 th century and supplied household and farm goods, as well as engaging in barter trade and commercializing farming output. Built of local sandstone with thick walls and a wrap-around stoep, the building incorporates the utilitarian commercial architecture prevalent in rural South Africa after the 1910 Act of Union. It has served variously as a general dealer store, a farmers’ cooperative, a bakery, and an artist’s studio. In 2005 Rosendal’s first art gallery, Meerkatkolonie, opened on this site, helping begin the town’s creative revival. The building was fully restored in 2018.
