Dear Editor,
I noted the photograph of City Hall on the front page of yesterday’s edition of Stabroek News and the caption remarking that the building is in desperate need of a major overhaul. The iconic City Hall is of course one of the jewels of Guyana’s architectural heritage and I am pleased to inform your readers that the European Union is funding a restoration and conservation management plan that will guide the restoration and long-term preservation of City Hall and also the City Engineer’s Building.
This study is due to be published in May, and will also enable a transfer of know-how on how to correctly restore other monuments of historical and symbolic value in Guyana. I would also like to bring to your reader’s attention the fact that the European Union, in conjunction with the National Trust of Guyana and the Guyana Heritage Society, has recently published a book, Aspects of European-Guyanese Heritage. This book, which His Excellency President Granger contributed to, illustrates the many facets of Guyana’s state-building process and how symbols of its statehood, such as City Hall, have been established and how important it is to value them and uphold them for future generations.
Yours faithfully,
Jernej Videtič
Ambassador of the European Union
