The
Royal British Columbia Museum is a history
museumA museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary...
located in
VictoriaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy. Victoria is a cruise ship port where...
,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, founded in 1886. It was given the "Royal" title upon a visit by
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
in 1986, and merged with the British Columbia Provincial Archives in 2003.
The museum is one of the centre-pieces of Victoria's tourist industry. It includes three permanent galleries and an
IMAXIMAX is a motion picture film format and projection standard created by Canada's IMAX Corporation. The traditional version of IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theatre. In addition, it often hosts touring exhibits from around the world.
The
Royal British Columbia Museum is a history
museumA museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary...
located in
VictoriaVictoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada. Located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria is a major tourism destination seeing more than 3.65 million visitors a year who inject more than one billion dollars into the local economy. Victoria is a cruise ship port where...
,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, founded in 1886. It was given the "Royal" title upon a visit by
Queen Elizabeth IIElizabeth II is the queen regnant of sixteen independent states known informally as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,...
in 1986, and merged with the British Columbia Provincial Archives in 2003.
The museum is one of the centre-pieces of Victoria's tourist industry. It includes three permanent galleries and an
IMAXIMAX is a motion picture film format and projection standard created by Canada's IMAX Corporation. The traditional version of IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theatre. In addition, it often hosts touring exhibits from around the world. In recent years, these have included exhibits about the
RMS TitanicThe RMS Titanic was an Olympic-class passenger liner owned by British shipping company White Star Line and built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, United Kingdom...
,
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
,
EgyptianAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
artifacts and
Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , ; 1162–1227), born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history....
.
The museum is located in Victoria's Inner Harbour, between the
Empress HotelThe Fairmont Empress is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada...
and the
Legislature BuildingsThe Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is one of two components of the Parliament of British Columbia, the provincial parliament ....
. The museum anchors the Royal BC Museum Cultural Precinct, a surrounding area that contains a number of historical sites and monuments including
Thunderbird ParkThunderbird Park is a park in Victoria, British Columbia next to the Royal British Columbia Museum. The park is home to many totem poles and other First Nations monuments. Also in the park are a carving studio, St. Anne's Schoolhouse , Helmcken House Thunderbird Park is a park in Victoria, British...
.
In October 2008, the museum was named one of
BC's Top EmployersBC's Top Employers is an annual competition that recognizes the best employers in British Columbia to work. First published in October 2005, the special designation recognizes the British Columbia employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work...
by Mediacorp Canada Inc., which was announced by
The Vancouver SunThe Vancouver Sun is a daily newspaper first published in the Canadian province of British Columbia on February 12, 1912. The paper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc., which is affiliated with CanWest Global Communications company...
,
The ProvinceThe Province is a daily, tabloid format newspaper published in British Columbia by the Pacific Newspaper Group Inc, a CanWest Global Communications Company. It has been a daily newspaper since 1898....
and the Victoria Times-Colonist.
Permanent galleries
The natural history gallery on the second floor displays the features life-sized displays of the diverse geography of the province (such as the
Fraser RiverThe Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 km , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
delta, and prehistoric life (including a towering
woolly mammothThe woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is an extinct species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia.This mammoth species was first recorded in deposits of the...
), and a simulated journey to the depths of the ocean. More recently, a section on climate had been added, including information on the effects of modern
climate changeGlobal warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C during the last century...
.
The modern history gallery on the third floor begins with "Century Hall" which displays collections of artifacts of the 20th century. Visitors then pass into a replica of a
cobblestoneCobblestones are stones that were frequently used in the pavement of early streets. "Cobblestone" is derived from the very old English word "cob", which had a wide range of meanings, one of which was "rounded lump" with overtones of large size...
streetscape of early 20th-century Victoria (complete with silent movie theatre, a hotel, a train station, old automobiles, and
ChinatownAlthough there are many places of the same name, the Chinatown in Victoria, British Columbia is the oldest in Canada and second only to San Francisco in North America. Its history goes back to the mid nineteenth century...
). The display then shifts to a tour of early forestry, fishing, and mining industries (including a mine shaft and
water wheelA water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, the development of hydropower. In the Middle Ages, waterwheels were used as tools to power factories throughout different counties. The alternatives were the windmill and human and animal...
), and then a history of exploration (which includes a model of the original
Fort VictoriaFort Victoria was a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the headquarters of HBC operations in British Columbia. The fort was the beginnings of a settlement that eventually grew into the modern Victoria, British Columbia, the capital city of British Columbia.The headquarters of HBC...
and a large scale replica of Captain
George VancouverCaptain George Vancouver RN was an officer in the British Royal Navy, best known for his exploration of the North-West Coast of North America, including the shores of the modern day Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
's ship the
HMS DiscoveryHMS Discovery was a Royal Navy ship best known as the lead ship in George Vancouver's exploration of the west coast of North America in his 1791-1795 expedition.Discovery was built at the Randall & Brents shipyard in London in 1789...
.
The First People's gallery, also on the third floor, is a
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
exhibit, portraying life both before and after contact with Europeans. The gallery includes a large collection of masks,
totem poleTotem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, usually cedar, but mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...
s, and a
Kwakwaka'wakwThe Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the the adjoining mainland and islands. Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
longhouseLonghouses were built by native peoples in various parts of North America, sometimes reaching over 100 meters long but generally around 5 to 7 meters wide...
built by
Henry HuntHenry Hunt is a Canadian First Nations artist from the Kwakwaka'wakw people of coastal British Columbia.He was born in 1923 in the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Fort Rupert, B.C. He is a descendant of the renowned Native ethnologist George Hunt...
, and grandsons,
Tony HuntTony Hunt is a Canadian First Nations artist of Kwakwaka'wakw ancestry noted for his work carving totem poles.He was born in 1942 at the Kwakwaka'wakw community of Alert Bay, British Columbia. He received early training from his maternal grandfather Mungo Martin...
and
Richard HuntRichard Hunt is a Canadian First Nations artist from the Kwakwaka'wakw nation of coastal British Columbia....
. The gallery is popular, but has been criticized by indigenous scholars for its portrayal of
First NationsFirst Nations is a term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada, who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 600 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread all across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia...
people, and its extensive use of controversial images and film from Edward Curtis.
Affiliations
The Museum is affiliated with:
CMAThe Canadian Museums Association is a national organization for the promotion of museums in Canada.The Association was established in 1947 by a group of people from Quebec City. It now has almost two thousand members and is located in Ottawa, Ontario....
,
CHINThe Canadian Heritage Information Network is a Canadian government-supported organization that provides a networked interface to Canada's heritage, largely through the World Wide Web. It aims to give access to Canada's heritage for both Canadians and a worldwide audience, by supporting the...
, and
Virtual Museum of CanadaThe Virtual Museum of Canada is Canada's national virtual museum. With over 2,500 Canadian museums, the VMC brings together Canada's museums regardless of size or geographical location ....
.
Images
Image:Thunderbird Park Royal Museum BC.jpg|Thunderbird ParkThunderbird Park is a park in Victoria, British Columbia next to the Royal British Columbia Museum. The park is home to many totem poles and other First Nations monuments. Also in the park are a carving studio, St. Anne's Schoolhouse , Helmcken House Thunderbird Park is a park in Victoria, British...
with the museum in the background
Image:Wooly Mammoth-RBC.jpg|The popular woolly mammoth in the natural history gallery
Image:Water Wheel-RBC.jpg|The recreated water wheel in the modern history gallery
File:Stolo with dipnets.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Stolo woman with cedar basket.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Totem haida.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Totem RMBC 1.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:TotemPoleVictoriaBC-3.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Okanagan Family Portrait.JPg|Royal BC Museum
File:TotemPoleVictoriaBC-2.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Fashion gloves1.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Water Wheel-RBC.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Underwater-RBC.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Elizabeth-RBC.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Royal Museum Front.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:Totempfaehle vor BC Museum.jpg|Royal BC Museum
File:TotemPolesVictoriaBC-1.jpg|Royal BC Museum
External links