National Archives and Museum

The 100,000 sq. ft. Barbados National Archives and Museum (BNAM) will contain some 40 million pages of records of the development of Trans-Atlantic slave societies. The records will be transferred from the Digitisation Pavilion upon the inauguration of BNAM in 2027, affording a permanent home protecting the Archives from damage and degradation while providing expanded infrastructure for continued digitization of records from Barbados as well as from throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.

The goal of BNAM is to present the history, culture, and heritage of Barbados in a best-in-class modern institution. It will serve as a custodian of the country’s collective memory and play a crucial role in education, research, and national identity rooted in the important work of the digitizing historic records of Trans-Atlantic slave societies.

The research and educational opportunities provided by BNAM will be limitless, ranging from collaboration with peer institutions internationally to ground-breaking advances in archival documentation fueling a new heritage economy.

It will provide galleries for changing displays of selections of the archives along with special exhibition galleries for displays developed to travel internationally and exhibitions hosted from elsewhere. Other features will include a Genealogy Institute, sculpture garden, event hall, restaurant and café, conservation laboratory, digitisation centre, bookbinding studio, and classrooms.

Opening 2027