Nassau Public Library & Museum, Bahamas

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Nassau Public Library & Museum is a beautiful octagonal building on the southern side of Parliament Square, facing Shirley Street, in Nassau, Bahamas. It is three stories. The third floor has a balcony offering all-round views of downtown Nassau. It is surmounted by a bell-shaped cupola. As with the majority of the colonial buildings in Bahamas, it is painted pink with white trimmings. The main door is framed by a pediment and flanked by a pair of columns.

The Nassau Public Library building was originally the town jail built in 1797. It was the second jail on the island of New Providence.

In 1879, the prison became the library, the first on New Providence. Its cells were converted into reading rooms and storage areas of maps and charts. Today it also serves as a museum, showcasing not only historic documents and prints (it holds newspapers going back a hundred years and more), but also pre-colonial artifacts such as native art objects of the Arawak tribe. The computers here have Internet access.

The Nassau Public Library and Museum is open Mondays through Thurdays from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, Fridays from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Admission to the library and museum is free, but usage of the Internet is charged at $1.25 for 15 minutes and $5.00 an hour.

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