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| Reviews and photos of Paramaribo attractions posted by real travelers and locals. The best tips for Paramaribo sightseeing. Paramaribo Map |
 | Paramaribo Things To Do | Tips 1 - 10 of 28 |  |
Our first stop is at the Fort Zeelandia on the waterfront. The fort was built by the French in 1640 and taken over and reinforced by the English in 1651, who named it Fort Willoughby after their leader, but it was later renamed Fort Zeelandia when the Dutch conquered Surinam in 1667. Many changes have taken place to the fort over the centuries and since 1968 it has housed the National Museum, apart from a small period of eleven years when it was used for the detention and torture of political prisoners after the coup of 1980. The fort is pentagonal with five bastions, one on each corner, and the walls are made of shell-stone. The museum is housed on two floors and include such displays as Susanna du Plessis belongings (a rich and infamously cruel plantation owner), pharmaceutical jars, a bottle collection which includes modern Coke bottles, a model of the fort, a reconstructed Amerindian dwelling, guns, a cobblers workshop and an excellent photo exhibit on slavery in Surinam. No photos are allowed inside. Leave a Comment
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The bauxite export was probably Suriname's most important contribution to the allied forces during World War II. Aluminium, made from bauxite, was very important for constructing airplanes.
Suriname was on its own during the German occupation of The Netherlands (1940-1945). At the time The Netherlands got occupied, the Germans had a large ship, the Goslar, in Paramaribo. The captain of the ship managed to sink the ship before it could be taken over by the Surinamese authorities. The remains of the ship still lie in the harbor of Paramaribo. Leave a Comment
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The cathedral, from 1885, is the tallest wooden building in the western hemisphere. It is currently closed for renovation after an almost collapse during restoration work in 1979, the work is to financed by the EU. The cathedral has also suffered vandalism to the building and the Maarschalkerweerd organ. Leave a Comment
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The 1 ˝ km long bridge spans the Surinam River, linking Paramaribo and Commonwijne. The bridge is 55m high and was built in Year 2000. Wydenbosch was president of Suriname from September 15, 1996 to August 12, 2000, The Surinam River carries mud from the Amazon, hence its brown colour. Leave a Comment
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The Palm Gardens behind the Presidential Palace were originally the private garden for the palace (then the governor's house), but were opened to the public in the beginning of the 20th century. The gardens are full of - you guessed it - palms, which are the home to many species of birds. Leave a Comment
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Susannah Maria Duplessis was an infamous plantation owner - infamous because of her horrendous treatment of slaves!
One of the stories about her tells how she became increasingly fed up with the baby of one of her slaves who was crying. When the mother was unable to silence the crying infant, Susannah insisted on her own method to stop the baby' screams - she held it upside down in the river until it was silent - for good!
Another story relates to he husband's alleged affair with one of the young female slaves. When Susannah heard her man tell his mistress that he "couldn't live without her beautiful breasts", she had them cut off the poor girl and served them on a plate for her husband's dinner! Leave a Comment
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The Jewish community of Suriname is one of the oldest in the Americas. During the Inquisition in Portugal and Spain around 1500, many Jews fled to Holland and the Dutch colonies to escape torture and condemnation to the stake.
The first synagogue was established in 1661and was the first Jewish settlement in the western hemisphere.
The floor consists of white sand, said to represent the journey by Moses to the Promised Land.
There are currently 500 Jews in Surinam, from a total of 719 in 1835. Service is held on the 1st and 3rd Friday every month, and the synagogue needs 10 people to be able to conduct a service. The synagogue is full during festivals only.
The synagogu is situated next door to the Muslim Mosque - the only other place in the world which this occurs, is in Jerusalem. The two religions live happily side by side! Leave a Comment
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The Lodge House from 1836, was originally built to perform weddings, the tower being added to imitate the wedding hall in Vlissingen in Netherlands. Its bricks were the ballast from the ships that came from Europe in the years that Suriname was a Dutch colony. The building is now used by the Ministry of Finance an is found on Onafhankelijksplein (Independence Square), a grassy square that forms the centre of Paramaribo.
In front of the Ministry of Finance is a statue of Suriname's most famous politician Johan Adolf Pengel, a prime-minister of the sixties. Leave a Comment
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As a Reformed Mosque, women are allowed to pray inside, in fact the mosque is quite unusual in that the women's section at the rear of the hall is raised above that of the men's area at the front.
The mosque took 20 years to build as the use of machinery was not allowed and everything had to be constructed by hand.
It is the largest mosque in the Caribbean. Leave a Comment
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The original Reformed Church - founded in 1668 - was destroyed by fire in 1821. The current building was completed in 1837 to a similar octagonal design.
Until around year 1850, the church was a state church (the state was paying for the clergy and running costs) and was used almost exclusively by the elite of the city with all services conducted in Dutch. After the 1850s the church opened its doors to African slaves and the lower classes. “Negro-English” — a pidgin language used by the slaves — was introduced in the services. Leave a Comment
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on October 19, 2004
