Treasury

Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The St. Lawrence-du-Maroni Treasury is an administrative building built between the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. Located in the city of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni in Guyana, it is part of the official district, alongside other buildings related to the colonial administration. This sector, distinct from the colonial city and the transport camp, reflects the urban organization planned under French authority at that time. The building, erected between 1889 and 1908, consists of a two-storey main building and an annex on the ground floor, surrounded by a brick fence wall on granite base. Its ancient ironworks, especially those of the portal, have been preserved.

The founding of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni in 1858 by Admiral Auguste-Laurent Baudin, then governor of Guyana, marked the beginning of the city's urban development. The expansion of the latter in the late 19th and early 20th centuries coincided with the construction of the Treasury, a symbol of the colony's administrative and economic expansion. The monument, classified by order of 9 March 1999, includes in its protection the land, adjacent developments (building of the communes, gallery, well), as well as the garden and fence walls. Its remote location on Avenue du Général-de-Gaulle illustrates its importance in the urban landscape.

The historical context of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni is marked by its role in the colonial penal system, with the presence near the transport camp. The Treasury, as an administrative building, was involved in the financial management of the colony, in a region where the economy was partly based on the exploitation of local resources and forced labour. Its architecture, combining local materials like granite and imported techniques (bricks, ironworks), testify to the cultural and technical exchanges of the colonial era.

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