Monuments in Guyana

TIMES INT'L

Monuments created to honour heroes and commemorate or celebrate historic events, depict the national pride of our country. Their creation can be regarded as works of art and/or architecture that promote national consciousness and beauty in our towns, villages and city.

The Non-Aligned Monument on Company Path in Georgetown commemorates the historic 1972 Conference of Foreign Ministers of Non-Aligned Countries held in Guyana August 8-11 of that same year.The four busts depict the founding leaders of the movement and were each sculpted in their own country then brought to the site. The founder leaders are; President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, President Jawaharlal Nehru of India, and President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia.

 

The Monument to National Unity, in the National Art Gallery, Castellani House compound, designed by Desmond Ali, was created to represent the promotion of peace, justice, racial harmony and cultural relations between Guyana and the peoples of the Caribbean and the Americas.

 

The bronze sculpture of a ship, The Whitby, the winning design in a competition, submitted by an Indian national, is located on the Merriman’s Mall in Georgetown. A replica of the first ship that arrived May 5, 1838 bearing the first batch of Indian indentured immigrants to Guyana, it was unveiled May 5, 1997.

 

Artist Philip Moore won an open competition to create a monument in honour of the 1763 rebellion at Plantation Magdalenenburg in Berbice, and the 1763 Monument was sculpted and unveiled May 23, 1976.The monument rests on a plinth designed by local architect Albert Rodrigues, and is adorned with 5 bronze plaques that represent “Seeking Inspiration”, “Uniting the people”, “Destroying the enemies”, “Control”, and “ Praise and Thanksgiving”.

 

Designed by Dennis Williams, the Enmore Martyrs’ Monument was unveiled June 16, 1977 to commemorate the deaths of five labourers killed by colonial police while protesting the social conditions on the East Coast plantations in 1948.There is also a plaque designed by Stanley Greaves, and five brass symbols inscribed with the names of the five martyrs.

 

The Damon Monument is located in Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast, and honours an African labourer called Damon, who was executed October 13, 1834 for his role during a protest against the system of apprenticeship.The bronze sculpture was created by Ivor Thom and erected July 31 1988.

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