Housed in a 1747 Neoclassical courthouse on the corner of Long and Market streets, the National Museum of Antigua and Barbuda (Mon-Fri 8.30am-4pm, Sat 10am-2pm; free) occupies just one large room, but it's indisputably worth thirty minutes of your time while you're exploring the capital - you can almost feel the enthusiasm with which the collection has been assembled and displayed.

The exhibits start by showing off the islands' early geological history, backed up by fossils and coral skeletons, and move on to more extensive coverage of its first, Amerindian inhabitants. Jewelry, primitive tools, pottery shards and religious figures used by these early settlers are well laid out and explained.

Continuing chronologically, the museum touches on Columbus, the European invasion and sugar production - the country's raison d'être from the mid-seventeenth century. Among the highlights are an interesting 1750 map of Antigua showing the plantations, as well as all the reefs that threatened shipping around the island, and an intriguing exhibit on the emancipation of the slaves.

 St John's

St. John's
  St John’s
  Getting around
  Eating and drinking
  Nightlife, casino, karaoke
  Airlines, embassies

Exploring St. John's
  Fort Bay
  Fort James
  Long Street
  National Museum
  Redcliffe Quay
  St. John's Cathedral

Antiqua guide

Antiqua
Where to go
When to go
Getting there
Money and costs
Getting around
Food and drink
Phones and post
Best of Antiqua
Holidays and festivals
Tours
Diving and snorkeling
Dive operators
Boats and catamarans
Boat operators
Economy, natural hazards
Antiqua brief history

Exploring Antiqua
- Barbuda:
  Getting there
  Beyond Cordrington
  Great Fort George
  Falmouth Harbour
  River Fort
  Cordrington

- Falmouth and English
  Harbour
  Eating, drinking, nightlife
  Falmouth
  Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley
  Heights, Pigeon Beach

- From Runaway Bay to
   Half Moon Bay
  Eating, drinking, nightlife
  Betty's Hope to Long Bay
  Half Moon Bay
  Runaway & Dickenson Bay

- West coast