The monumental Red House of Trinidad
and Tobago that sits in the capital city of Port of Spain and utilized as the
seat of Parliament has been a popular target for major protest actions in the
past. It was set aflame in 1903 in the most famous fire to occur in Port of Spain
in which 16 people were killed. The Express Newspaper indicated that after the
fire “the debris was cleared out and the skeleton of the building was not
demolished but refurbished” Speaking of skeletons, recently there was a major
historical find on the site during restoration of the building. Human bone fragments
and other artefacts have been unearthed below the structure and experts have been
able to date the remnants to the Amerindian era.
These
new developments at the Red House with its historical links to Amerindian
settlements has aided in transforming the identity of urban constructs. As
rightly put by Elmira Zahedian (2013:59) ”the core of every urban space in
traditional historic cities were based on many years of history and human
environmental interaction” as seen in the discovery stories that were revealed
from the unearthed artefacts. Zahedian goes on to state that “modern patterns of
city scopes show little awareness or any indication of awareness about their
historical or cultural past”. With regards to the Red House its disconnection
is particular visible through its Greek inspired building design and the realization
of the rich historical past of these cities that go unnoticed and only praise
with lip service.
In light of these findings, more research on Trinidad
and Tobago’s prehistoric ties with our Amerindian ancestors should be conducted
and incorporated into our heritage studies and conservation and restoration
projects that pay tribute to their contributions to our multicultural heritage.
We should become a more conscious society; fully aware of our priceless historical
assets that can open up more avenues for income earning in our country in the
form heritage tourism and other sectors.
Kristal.
References:
·
Elmira Zahedian, “A Morphological Approach to
Characterization of Urban Space in Historical Structure of Cities in Iran,”
Journal of Applied Environmental and Biological Sciences, Islamic Azad
University, Iran 2013.
·
Judy Raymond, “The Red House: 150 years of History,”
Digital Guardian, 2013.
Well done!
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