Moon Author's Review
The Montego Bay Cultural Centre (10am-5pm Tues.-Sun., US$8 adults, US$2 students and seniors) houses the National Museum West and the National Gallery West, showcasing Jamaica’s history and contemporary arts scene, while the building itself is a Georgian relic worth visiting. National Museum West, at ground level, features a permanent exhibit covering a history of St. James and Jamaica with a collection of artifacts spanning the Taino to postcolonial periods in the southern wing and temporary exhibits in the northern wing. National Gallery West, upstairs in an adjoining building, is an offshoot of the National Gallery in Kingston and showcases early, modern, and contemporary art in rotating exhibits. Special events, including occasional dance performances, are held in the town hall ballroom, and performing arts space is upstairs in the main building.
A freedom monument stands at the back of the building, honoring those sentenced here when the building was used as a courthouse. The names of condemned enslaved people appear alongside the punishment meted out: whipping, striping, or death. The Cage, just in front of the Cultural Centre in Sam Sharpe Square, was once used to lock up misbehaving slaves and sailors.
