Museum Reveiw, Travel and Tourism Information

Royal British Columbia Museum.
Feb.10, 2008

The Royal BC Museum is a definite “must see” when in Victoria BC Canada. Undeniably the best museum in Victoria and one of the top museums in the country. It is a large museum with many detailed, full sized and scaled exhibits featuring BC's natural, human and modern history. The Royal BC Museum is also from time to time host to many famous touring exhibits such as Titanic, Leonardo Da Vinci and Whales.

Upon entrance to the Royal BC Museum you will be flanked by courtyards and fountains where you can take a bit of break if you have been walking around for a while. The front side of the Royal BC Museum has displayed totem poles behind a glass wall and artworks adorn the walkway.

Just through the doors the first thing you will see is John Lennon's Rolls Royce painted in psychedelic colours. Off to the left of the entrance they usually have a few displays set up you can view for free before you buy your tickets to the rest of the museum. There is also a cafeteria near these exhibits in case you're feeling a bit hungry.

When purchasing your tickets you may also considering buying tickets for the IMAX Theatre as well. The Royal BC Museum and IMAX Theatre are two conjoined buildings that share admission services. If you were thinking of seeing an IMAX presentation as well, there can be a significant discount when purchasing your Royal BC Museum admission and IMAX Theatre tickets as well.

After purchasing your tickets you will be directed to an escalator (there is an elevator as well) that will take you to the second floor. This floor explores BC's natural history and is also host to touring exhibits.

Some highlight exhibits are a full sized reconstructed woolly mammoth, a walk through a rain forest, an environmental impact information display, a coastal display with a tidal pool with live sea urchins inside and other natural history exhibits with all the documentation to give you a well rounded education. For the children there is an interactive area featuring sea life exploration and various artefacts with computers and worksheets to amuse themselves.

Swans

Back over to the escalator and go on up to the third floor. This is where you will explore BC's human history, past and present. When you reach the top of the escalator have a look out the windows and you will be treated to spectacular views of the Parliament Buildings, Empress Hotel and the inner harbour.

The first exhibit you come across will be modern era artefacts, common household items and contemporary icons that were highlights of various generations. This exhibit is definitely a blast from the past.

The next display will be a detailed reconstruction an early 1900's city street featuring a movie theatre where you can go into, sit down, and watch silent shows from that era. Peer into the shops where you will see detailed displays of the period. This old city has a genuine atmosphere with sights and sounds that have been constructed with meticulous detail.

Old Town

In the next sections you will be treated to other life-sized recreations of a homestead, a Cornish waterwheel, a typical mine shaft, a saw mill, a cannery and a recreation of Captain Vancouver's HMCS Discovery where you can actually walk through and see displays of thier quarters. These sections also include in-depth detailed scaled models exploring BC's , mining, logging, fishing and maritime histories.

Homestead

Saw Mill

Winding your way past BC's industrial history you will come to the First Nations Gallery. You'll enter the exhibit via Chief Kwakwabalasami's long house that is a period display featuring ceremonial sounds and masks on display. Passing through the house you will come to a large room with a mezzanine filled with totem poles, artefacts, native masks, artworks, detailed scale models and audio visual presentations.

Long House

Conclusion.

The Royal BC Museum is fun for the whole family. You can easily spend a few hours exploring and re exploring all the displays and is well worth the price of admission. This one of Victoria's star attractions, make sure you set aside a little time for this one.