The home of Belize's two houses of Parliament, House of Representatives and Senate of Belize. Opened on October 9, 1971, after it moved to Independence Plaza in Belmopan after Belize City's near-total destruction by a hurricane.
"After a leisurely breakfast the next morning I joined three of the other travellers on a bus to head for Belize. The first part of the route was back along the dirt road to Flores, but about 20 miles short of the town, where the track joined the main road, we had to change. After nearly an hour the bus to Belize arrived and we continued our journey to the border. Again, there was little of interest, just scrubby bush with the odd farm and some large army camps as we approached the border.
For me cossing to Belize there was no problem, but a German man with us had a lot of trouble, and we waited the best part of an hour while he was questioned and searched. Finally he was let through and we were all able to catch a waiting bus on to Belize City.
At the Guatemalan customs post on the border with Belize, I could not help but notice the large map of the country on display. It showed Belize as part of their territory, Guatemala has always claimed it belonged to them. At the time of this visit Britain had no diplomatic relations with Guatemala because of this issue. It has since been resolved.
About half way along the road our bus passed through the country’s newly built capital of Belmopan, and as the day was still quite young I decided to stop and have a quick look. I have seen some odd places on my travels, but Belmopan took some beating. Built in 1970, all it consisted of, was the National Assembly Building with a government office block on either side, one bank, a few houses, some shops and a bus shelter, all standing in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. It looked like they had just run out of money. After an hour I was able to catch another bus on to Belize City, where I met up again with the others at a guest house offering cheap accommodation for travellers like ourselves." - MH
The National Assembly Building of Belize, 1976
All items are produced from original paintings by Martyn Hanks.
Prints: Size is A4 (8.27" x 11.69"/210 x 297mm). Printed onto high quality 245gsm fine art watercolour paper to give the print an authentic look and feel. Supplied in a textured off white mount size 12" x 16" (305 x 406mm), backed and sealed in a clear cellophane wrap and delivered in a protective carton to ensure it reaches you in perfect condition.
Cards: Size 7" X 5"/178 x 127mm. Packaged in a clear cellophane wrap with a top quality 150gsm self-seal white envelope.