St Kitts / Special Interests / Museums

St Kitts’ remants of its past are on display in the island’s National Museum, which itself is housed in one of the largest public buildings in the capital Basseterre, the Old Treasury Building. After falling into disrepair in the 1990s, it is being restored gradually.

National Museum, Basseterre - The St Kitts and Nevis National Museum is housed in the Old Treasury Building, a striking two-storey, 19th Century, local stone building in neo-Georgian style (its foundation stone was laid by Lady Haynes-Smith in 1894). Topped by a dome, it has a central arch, through which all arriving visitors would enter Basseterre in times gone by, when their ship put in at the old wooden pier then stretching out from the building. But now it is no longer on the waterfront as a new development was built on reclaimed land next to it. Port Zante includes shops, cafes, a cruise ship terminal, car park and marina.

Over the years the building has housed the Treasury, Customs, the Post Office, the Department of Tourism and other government departments. It was abandoned in 1996 when it no longer suited its purpose as an office block and then sustained damage by storms and hurricanes. In 1999 the St Christopher Heritage Society (now St Christopher National Trust) took over the management project for the restoration of the building for use as a National Museum, a process which is being done in phases. The first exhibits, a collection of Kittitian historical artefacts and old photographs, native flora and fauna, and folk arts, were opened in 2002. Six years later, the displays were expanded to include a new one marking the island’s 25th anniversary of independence..The museum is open Tuesday-Friday from 9.30am-1pm and 2pm-5pm, and on Monday and Saturday from 9.30am-1pm only.

Non-profit organisations and Government links:

National Museum c/o St Christopher National Trust , P O Box 888, Bay Road, Basseterre, t 465 5584 | schs@sisterisles.kn | www.stkittsheritage.com

Contributors: Sara Macefield (foreword and update)