Exhibition Opens On Blue and John Crow Mountains

An exhibition on the Blue and John Crow Mountains (BJCM) opened on February 16, at the library of the African Caribbean Institute of Jamaica/Jamaica Memory Bank (ACIJ/JMB), 12 Ocean Boulevard, in the Kingston Mall, downtown Kingston.

The exhibition titled: ‘Celebrating the BJCM – Jamaica’s First World Heritage Site’, is opened to the public until the end of March 2016.

Director of the ACIJ/JMB, Bernard Jankee, told JIS News that the exhibition is part of a public education programme, in celebration of the inscription of the Blue and John Crow Mountains on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) World Heritage List of Sites.  The BJCM was inscribed on July 3, 2015.

“Because of this important inscription, we thought that we would use the opportunity during the month of February to promote the Blue and John Crow Mountains as our first world heritage site,” he said.

Mr. Jankee pointed out that patrons attending the exhibition will be able to see the intangible and physical cultural heritage of the BJCM site.

“We have on display some of the plants and animals that are found in this area, which is what made the inscription possible,” he said, adding that the exhibition will feature a multimedia display on the culture of the Windward Maroons, Moore Town, Port Antonio.

Additionally, he said that visitors to the exhibition will also see flora found in the area as well as specimens of fauna endemic to the area, such as the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly,  and the Short-tailed and Streamer-tailed Hummingbirds.

Apart from the exhibition, Mr. Jankee said that lectures will be held on the Blue and John Crow Mountains. He said that the speakers and dates for these presentations will be confirmed shortly.

According to Mr. Jankee, the presentations will focus on the value of the BJCM, which he said was inscribed as the only mixed site in the Caribbean by UNESCO.

“This means that it is recognised for its outstanding universal value, both in terms of the plants and animals of the area, the physical environment as well as the tangible cultural heritage, which relates to the Windward Maroons,” he added.

The BJCM site is a rugged mountain range, measuring 26,252 hectares, which spreads across the parishes of St. Andrew, St. Thomas and Portland.

The ACIJ/JMB is a division of the Institute of Jamaica, an agency of the Ministry of Youth and Culture.