The US Government is providing a 450,000 US Dollars grant for the preservation and stabilisation of old Fourah Bay College building in Cline Town, Freetown.

The fund will be provided through the US Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) and to be implemented by World Monuments Fund (WMF).

The US Embassy said the fund will be used for the emergency stabilisation of the old structure through the installation of new roof and masonry conservation.

“We are pleased to play a role in the preservation of this incredible historic site in Sierra Leone so it can continue to inspire and educate the public for generations.

“The story of old Fourah Bay College is important to preserve for the people of Sierra Leone and Americans with ties to this region who can learn from its history as well,” US Ambassador Bryan Hunt said.

Construction of the old structure started in 1845 by  and hosted the college until it was transferred to Mount Aureol in the years after Sierra Leone’s independence in 1961.

In 1955, the old college was proclaimed a national monument being that it was the first modern styled university south of the Sahara.

The old structure also served as the headquarters of the Sierra Leone Railway and also a Magistrate Court in 1980 but it was closed in 1990.

The old structure hosted refugees who fled the provinces during the country’s 10-year civil war between 1991 and 2002. Key elements like the roof, ceiling, glass windows and board floor are missing.

Experts in the past have called for the reconstruction of the lost elements citing that their replacement could further preserve the old structure.