Umana Yana

The Umana Yana is a benab, the traditional conical meeting house of Guyana's Indigenous peoples, built on a scale no village benab ever reached. The name is Wai-Wai for "meeting place of the people".

The first Umana Yana was built in 1972 by Wai-Wai craftsmen brought to Georgetown for the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement, and it became one of the city's best-known buildings. It burned down in 2014 and was rebuilt, again by Indigenous builders using traditional materials and methods, reopening in 2016. The National Trust lists it as a national monument together with the African Liberation Monument on the same grounds.

It is used for state receptions, exhibitions and cultural events, so the grounds are sometimes closed for a function. The Pegasus hotel stands beside it, the Lighthouse is a five-minute walk west along the seafront, and the "I Love Guyana" sign is just down High Street.