@Post: “Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison (Barbados), an outstanding example of British colonial architecture consisting of a well-preserved old town built in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, which testifies to the spread of Great Britain’s Atlantic colonial empire.

@Post: “With its serpentine urban lay-out the property testifies to a different approach to colonial town-planning compared to the Spanish and Dutch colonial cities of the region which were built along a grid plan.

@BU.David: “Congrats to all involved making this a reality.

You are “taking the piss” here.

Correct?

@David: “You don’t like the fact Barbados is getting some good PR?

I am trilled that Barbados is getting some good PR. But at what cost? At what dishonesty?

Why are the Dutch, or the Spanish, or the French, or the Russians (or even the Germans) less honourable than the English?

@David: “You prefer it goes to Canada perhaps?

Please don’t try that game.

I have spent ten years fighting for Barbados. Sometimes against Canada.

At the end of the day, having sunshine blown up one’s ass is not always worth the cost.

@hants

If only we can get our Ramsar site sorted out we would have them to add to the list and a reasonable product to spur heritage tourism.

What is the latest with Graeme Hall?

Congrats to Dr Karl Watson. Can we clean up Bridgetown of the filthy Fairchild Street market which has been taken over by the vagrants? The vendors have around the Fairchild Street Terminus filthy with many wooden stalls. What is noticeable is that the majority of vendors are foreigners, who have brought the bad habit of street vending to Fairchild Street while the markets are empty.

I want to congratulate the committee who work so hard to get this world class inscription.
My problem is that most of the persons in Barbados are nasty and drop litter all over this country especially in the heritage site.
I go walking early in the morning and usually get so upset with the amount of garbage all over St.Michael. Sanitation is doing their job but the garbage is not placed in a designated area for collection.
Sanitation also has a problem of not having shovels on the trucks and therefore is any garbage that drops out of a bag; the truck goes along and leaves it.

Who this “Mind Your Business” person? He be me no?

Clone has a valid point that Bajans have become a bunch of nasty people, and the sanitation people do not pick up the trash if it falls from them when putting it into the trucks.

I am glad that the Garrison is listed but it is laughable that Bridgetown is. We have a reputation for destroying historic buildings and a poor maintenance record . Just look at the decaying buildings along Bay St and the old Empire Cinema that is left to go to ruin. We do have some interesting buildings in Bridgetown but look at the surroundings. I would like everyone of us to start looking around as we drive and walk this island. Let us pretend to be Tourists visiting for the first time, look at the dirt and grime, the derelict and abandoned buildings. Think how we can improve, how we can soften the concrete landscape with green areas. We have to have more pride in our surroundings and everyone can help by keeping it cleaner and greener.

@Chris Halsall,

Bajans should treat the “Heritage site” like most Brits treat Buckingham Palace.

It’s main value is as a tourist attraction.

Christopher Halsall re. your post of June 25, 2011 at 6:11 PM;

Are you saying that the Colonial Havana, Santo Domingo, Surinam, Port of Spain, Martinique, etc. city centres were laid out in exactly the same manner as Old Bridgetown? Where does the dishonesty come in?

@David

How about illustrating the story with a picture of the Garrison? A picture showing the architecture ( the building with the Clock Tower where Halsall was supposed to fight his duel) would be appreciated.

How will it redound to our benefit, Checkitout? Like the World Cup, like the oil off Barbados, like the boardwalk, like the world boxing championshis? Give me a break, do!

Hants | June 25, 2011 at 6:13 PM |
OK BTA. Get to work!

This is good for Tourism.

Chris Halsall and the intelligentsia can talk duh talk but this is marketable

A picture tells a thousand words. Pretty soon we will be seeing more of our beautiful sites on Flickr and other social media. And like the foreign media who normally comes into a country, whether it be in Africa or the Caribbean and generally show case the negative side of the country, so too will many individuals who visit this island and hearing that its capital has World Heritage status.

Colonel Buggy

You go Ministry of Culture, take good sailor with you, tell what you smell … no? No no, tell what you see and then tell what you smell …?

Did anyone read the Al gilkes Column Today. isn’t part of our heritage to help those who can’t help themselves.?

ac have no business reading Al Gilkes … No one have business reading Al Gilkes … Al Gilkes have no business reading Al Gilkes … no?

Until governments understand and fully appreciate our natural Environment.
and the very important and significant role it plays in keeping us alive .Places like Graeme Hall would remain a political football to be kicked around and shove down the throats of the ever so effervescent and know it all “Political Paling Cocks”

@BAFBFP

Can we assume from your comment you don’t believe in heritage tourism?

The Nation newspaper again shows its political DNA. The world heritage status should have been the front page story today.

Its something for us bajans to be proud of and celebrate. The world heritage status imposes a requirement on us to preserve the history of the city, and thats important.

Is the history of Bridgetown and its Garrison, or Barbados for that matter, taught in any history class in any Barbadian school under the direction of the Ministry of Education?

Hmmm … velly velly interesting … Hmmm maybe Minister Lashley decide to include question on immigration form…” Are you in Barbados because it be on World Heritage List ? Yes, No, Don’t Care” Then maybe relevance of salary of PS and Dep PS and SRO and Dep SRO and SAS and Hon. Steve Blackett and Hon Lashley get assess … no?

@Spratt

Do you leave home to visit a supermarket because of one item on the shelf or the perception/certain knowledge that your shopping experience will be a satisfying one because your broad based needs will be met?

THere are more important and pressing needs we have to deal with. Barbadians are a proud people and we do understand and appreciate what has been done, However there is a still a tommorow and in that tommorrow is a hungry and homeless person wanted to be lloved and appreciated . first let us get our priorities right before waving the victory flag

Many comments and of course a wide range of opinions. Here are a few of mine for what they are worth and directed especially to pople like Christopher Halsall, Jack Sprat and others whose comments tend to the negative. First of all, the charge of dishonesty. If you all had the opportunity to read the magnificent dossier that was prepared based on realities and facts rather than dishonest, wishful thinking, then you would re think your position. The Garrison area is the best preserved and largest British military complex in the world, with approximately one hundred buildings still standing. This is a fact that was easily checked by UNESCO. I had the honour to be asked by the Government of Barbados to lead the UNESCO representative on the walk about to check the veracity of our claims. Inscriptions are not lightly given and this application required years of hard work and dedication and apart from the civil servants formally involved, this work was done as a civic duty/ pro bono by dedicated individuals working for the people of Barbados who stand to benefit in many ways. We now have to grasp the opportunities which this listing creates.
Now my personal view is that in the preparations, the general public was not as well informed or involved as they could have been. This may have led to misconceptions or a misunderstanding of what World Heritage listing means for Barbados. The work is now beginning, but it is my hope that this will now act as a catalyst for all of us to work together to preserve our heritage. Yes, I agree totally, some buildings in Bridgetown are in decay..e.g. the Empire Theatre…others are now facing an uncertain future.e.g. the early 18th century Town Hall building, whose most recent incarnation was the Supreme Court. Conversely, we have the Nichols building standing at the corner of James Street..a mid 17th century building with its Dutch facade and roof line, in good condition and a prime example of tangible heritage which reflects world issues. Built in the period when the Dutch dominated world commerce and Barbados with its considerable autonomy during the interregnum period, traded heavily with them, it should not be a surprise that the first thing Cromwell’s forces did when they invaded Barbados was to seize the Dutch shipping in Carlisle Bay. From the period and Barbados’ prime role in the Atlantic system, came the various Navigation Acts which underpinned British imperial policy for centuries at a global level.
Yes, for those smart enough to parlay capital into heritage tourism ventures, then the cachet of World Heritage listing is of enormous potential value. For me personally, if the average Barbadian citizen, justifiably proud of the listing, now thinks twice about throwing litter in the streets and respects our built and natural environment, then it was worth all the hard work. At the other end of the spectrum, if the owners of capital/developers, who, with their bulldozers in the past have been the principal offenders, now think twice about destroying historic structures or groves of trees, then it was worth it. Finally, if government now gives greater incentives to foster preservation or increases the penalties for those who willfully destroy listed or historic structures, then it was worth it. Yes, it is easy to nay say, but life preferably should be lived with the philosophy of “my glass is half full, not half empty.” Think positively, not negatively.

@Dr. Watson

NICE INTERVENTION, IT WAS NEEDED.

jack spratt re your post of June 25, 2011 at 10:11 PM, in which you said ”
How will it redound to our benefit, Checkitout? Like the World Cup, like the oil off Barbados, like the boardwalk, like the world boxing championshis? Give me a break, do!”

I can’t give you a break. Sorry!

There is a bit of purblindness, which I have never before associated with your posts, that pervades this one. What does the World Cup, Oil off Barbados, the Boardwalk, the World boxing championships, etc, have in common with the designation of a site in Barbados as a world heritage site? Let me answer, absolutely nothing.

The items you mention are all political fodder to some degree, the designation of the World Heritage site really should be apolitical.

The items you mention all were designed at significant costs to the Government of Barbados with a major expectation being immediate increased tourist arrivals. The World Heritage Site campaign as far as I am aware involved only minimal costs associated with presentations made to the relevant authorities at Unesco by Public Servants and University persons, mostly as part of their normal jobs.

That the items you mentioned have not apparently borne fruit so far, should not be held against the World heritage site campaign. That fruit, in terms of visitor arrivals, may take some time to be realised but there is the immediate benefit that Barbados is now one of the few Caribbean countries that can boast a world heritage site. I know very little about Tourism and Tourism marketing but if the designation is not used to attract some more of the tourists who are interested in such things to Barbados, it will say a lot about the skills of our tourism planners.

There are several negatives that have been said on this board by persons who seem to be against the designation. Those negatives can’t reasonably be from a political perspective, as, afaik, both the DLP and BLP administrations would have given their blessings and a little funding to the campaign and therefore it is not a BLP or DLP thing.

I have some sympathy with BFP’s perspective related to the designation being of a colonial nature. But what else do we have? We have no magnificent natural sites that are of world class like the kaiteur falls, or the Dominica rain forest or the Belize or Cayman diving sites, etc. We have no historical sites that tell of ancient struggles or early ways of life from our or the native peoples perspectives on the scale of some of the American sites.

In the Caribbean, Bermuda and St Kitts, Nevis have World Heritage sites that are quite similar to Barbados new one in most respects, but are, to my mind, much more picturesque.

Barbados is lucky to have secured a world heritage site. Luck laced with much hard work by our historians, albiet from a colonial perspective and, yes, numerous public servants.

Look through the lists of the World Heritage sites and click on some of the images of these sites. They are, in the main, sites that tell a story of mankind’s progress throughout the world. These range from the Beautiful very ancient Dogon site to the more recent, historically, sites that celebrate the British Empire. Looking through the list there seems to be a preponderance of sites that celebrate european conquest but there are some other sites that have managed to get into the list that speaks to the life of mankind on all the continents from earliest times to the present.

Looking through the list, there are instances where some sites have been delisted for one reason or the other. Reading the preponderance of posts here it looks as if the next step for many should be a campaign to delist Barbados.

Why are we looking a gift horse in the mouth?