Welcome to Georgetown, the capital and largest city of Guyana. It sits on the Atlantic coast at the mouth of the Demerara River, and it is nicknamed the Garden City of the Caribbean. Georgetown is the country's centre of government, trade and finance, and it is also home to the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community, known as CARICOM. Above all, the city is known for its architecture, shaped by both British and Dutch colonial influences, from a towering painted-timber cathedral to an iron market hall. Let's set off and explore some of its finest buildings and gardens.
St. George's Cathedral
Photo: Dan Lundberg · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsIn front of you rises St. George's Cathedral, the Anglican seat of the Bishop of Guyana. What makes it remarkable is its material: this Gothic Revival church is built of timber, and it soars to a height of 43.5 metres. It was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, opened its doors on 24 August 1892 and was completed in 1899. Standing on Church Street, the cathedral has been designated a national monument. Look up at the painted timber and imagine the craftsmanship needed to raise it.
Stabroek Market
Photo: (WT-shared) Roundtheworld 15:21, 16 November 2010 (EST) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsListen to the bustle around you: this is Stabroek Market, the largest market in Georgetown and easily the busiest spot in the city. The market is housed in an iron and steel structure crowned by a prominent clock tower, a style that recalls Victorian Britain. Surprisingly, it was designed by an American engineer, Nathaniel McKay, and built in 1880 and 1881 by the Edgemoor Iron Company of Delaware. Today it is also a hub for taxis, minibuses and ferries carrying people and goods to the towns and villages along the Demerara River.
Parliament Building
Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsHere stands the Parliament Building, home of the National Assembly of Guyana. Designed by Joseph Hadfield, it was completed on 21 February 1834 in Brickdam, on the site where the Court of Policy used to meet. Step inside the Parliamentary Chamber and lift your eyes to its decorated ceiling, designed by Cesar Castellani. The hot and humid climate took its toll on that ceiling, and it had to be reconstructed between 2000 and 2005. Since 1998 the building has also housed the Parliament Library.
Georgetown City Hall
Photo: JukoFF . · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOn the corner of Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic you will find Georgetown City Hall, a Gothic Revival building from the nineteenth century. It was designed by an architect who was also a clergyman, the Reverend Ignatius Scoles, in 1887, and it was completed in June 1889. It holds the offices of the Mayor, the City Council and the City Engineer. Admirers have called it the most picturesque structure in Georgetown and one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in the Caribbean. In 1995 the Government of Guyana proposed it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Guyana National Museum
Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsStep into the Guyana National Museum, founded on 13 February 1868. Many of its treasures have stayed in place for more than fifty years, among them the figure of a pork-knocker, which has been on display for over sixty years. You can also admire miniature versions of the ferry boats of the Transport and Harbours Department. And look out for the PR1 vehicle, the car used by Prime Minister Dr Ptolemy Reid while he held high political office.
Guyana Botanical Gardens
Photo: Dan Sloan · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOur last stop is the Guyana Botanical Gardens, a tropical garden laid out in the late nineteenth century on an abandoned sugar estate called Plantation Vlissengen. In those days it lay at the eastern edge of the city. Within the gardens are the Seven Ponds, the Place of Heroes, where national leaders and the poet Martin Carter are buried. And here is a lovely surprise: near the zoo, gentle manatees glide through a pond. The first manatees were brought to the gardens back in the 1870s.
Lomakuume
