Barbados Museum & Historical Society
National museum in a former Garrison military prison, covering Amerindian, colonial and African history.
The Barbados Museum & Historical Society occupies the former British military prison at St Ann's Garrison, a coral-stone complex begun in the 1810s to serve the island's imperial garrison. The Society was founded in 1933 and opened the museum in the converted cell blocks, retaining the barrel-vaulted rooms and arcaded courtyard. The site forms part of Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011, and the building remains among the most complete surviving examples of Georgian military architecture in the Caribbean.
Seven permanent galleries trace the island from Amerindian settlement through Atlantic slavery, emancipation and independence. The African Gallery examines the cultures from which enslaved Barbadians were taken, while the Jubilee, Cunard and Harewood galleries hold decorative arts, prints and maps. A military gallery interprets the garrison itself, and a children's gallery serves school groups. The Shilstone Memorial Library holds manuscripts, plantation records and newspapers, and the Society publishes a long-running scholarly journal alongside lectures and temporary displays.
Highlights
- Housed in the coral-stone military prison of St Ann's Garrison, begun in the 1810s
- Part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison
- African Gallery on the origins and impact of the Atlantic slave trade
- Shilstone Memorial Library of manuscripts, maps and plantation records
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