Museums

Georgetown hosts the majority of museums in Guyana. Each of which showcases a different aspect of Guyana’s historical remnants.

The Guyana National Museum
The Guyana National Museum is located on North Road in a building complex which opened in 1951. The Museum's collections were housed previously in the Carneige Building. The Guyana National Museum in Georgetown has a collection of flora and fauna, precious stones found in our land formation, archaeological findings, and examples of Amerindian arts and crafts. This museum is the largest and house most of our general artifacts.


Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology
The Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology, the first museum of anthropology in the English-speaking Caribbean was founded in the year 1974 with the collections of Guyanese Archaeologist, Dr. Denis Williams.
An ethnographic collection of the Wai Wai, one of the nine indigenous tribes found in Guyana, was presented to this Museum in 1991 by Guyanese Cultural Anthropologist, Dr. George P. Mentore. The Museum’s collections also include excavated artifacts from all of the ten Administrative Regions of Guyana.


Castellani House: the home of the National Gallery of Art
This large wooden building was designed by Cesar Castellani. It was once the residence of the Director of Agriculture in 1888. In 1965 the building was converted as the official residence by Mr. Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, then Prime Minister of British Guiana. In 1993 the inaugural collection of the Art Gallery was held.

The Museum of African Heritage
The museum was initially called The Museum of African Art and Ethnology and was founded in 1985. In 2001, the museum was renamed the Museum of African Heritage, in order to open their doors to a wider audience and begin to fully address the African experience in Guyana. The existing collection includes items on African Art, mostly West African, from the wooden mask to the carved door of secret societies, helping to educate people about the meaning and reasons behind African art traditions. Also in the collection are more practical pieces like the brass weights used for measuring gold dust, drums, musical instruments, games and clothing. More recent donations include a wooden replica of the 1763 Monument.

John Campbell Police Museum
Uniforms, musical instruments, photographs and other police artifacts dating back to colonial times are on display.

National Military Museum
Historical artifacts such as Military weapons, uniforms, and many other equipment and items used from previous troop engagements and records are on display.



The following Museums located out of the city:


The Rupununi Weavers Society Museum at Lethem The Rupununi Weavers Society is also associated with the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology in Georgetown. This association is designed to promote and enhance awareness of Guyanese indigenous cultures. To this end the society maintains a museum within its compound on the outskirts of Lethem. The museum houses Amerindian artifacts and antiquities, as well as archival materials and other intellectual resources

The Guyana Heritage Museum
Irons, enamel lunch carriers, ice-shavers, three-legged iron pots, 18th and 19th century maps, coins and stamps, other artifacts and an impressive collection of books by Guyanese authors awaken a sense of nostalgia. It was obvious that the collection of these artifacts at the Guyana Heritage Museum, situated at Kastev, West Coast Demerara was as a result of love for one's country, dedication and hard work over a number of years.

The Philatelic Museum, A branch of the Guyana Post Office was established in 1860 and was closed in 1962 when the Post Office Training School was opened. The building is located on Lamaha and Carmicheal Street, Cummingsburg, currently houses an Internet Cafe and Post Office operated by the Guyana Post Office Corporation.