ROM - Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

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If you visit just one museum in Canada, then it should be the Royal Ontario Museum. It has a vast collection of artifacts from all over the world, covering art, culture , history, archeology, and the natural sciences. There are numerous traveling exhibits; on my visit, some of the Dead Sea Scrolls were on display.

Exhibits on Canadian history and culture are the most unique. They cover the indigenous inhabitants of Canada, the French explorers, the British colonial period, and independence.

The galleries of Asian art are wonderful. So are the historical galleries, covering Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Mediterranean. The natural history section rivals the Smithsonian (even if it's not free).

The building is a rather odd hybrid structure, with a new add-on superimposed on the original building. It's almost worth the trip to see this. Since its grand re-opening in 2007, it has attracted as vast and steady flow of visitors every day. It's very crowded even on weekday mornings.

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I would like to invite you to visit ROM or the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. It houses a wide collection of world culture and natural history in Canada.

The museum is close to other amenities: restaurants, theatres, bars & clubs, and accommodations and accessible to public transportation.
Admission Prices are as follows (Effective October 28, 2006)*
Adults: C$18
Students with ID & Seniors: C$15
Children: C$10
Children Under 4: FREE

HOURS OF OPERATION:
Daily: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.

IMPORTANT TIP:
ADMISSION is FREE to all ROM's permanent galleries ONE HOUR before closing from Saturday to Thursday night. So, come and enjoy!

We are usually very picky about which museums to visit, but we were glad to have visited the Royal Ontario Museum. We were impressed by the number of galleries in this museum, which is one of Canada's largest museums. We especially enjoyed the world culture galleries, including the large exhibition on China. The museum is conveniently located in downtown Toronto and is accessible by subway. The admission price to the museum is worth it. You will need at least three hours or more to visit this museum.

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This huge museum is the largest in Canada(and according to one travel book I read the second largest in North America) is a must for anyone spending a lot of time in Toronto. The museum is a hodge podge of all kinds of exhibits from Ancient Egypt to decorative arts to natural history. In fact because of its size and broad scope of collections it could be said that The ROM is a sum greater than its parts. No particular collection is really outstanding on its own but in total, this is quite an interesting museum. The one exhibit that you should visit if you have children is the dinosaur collection on the second floor. It is very well exhibited and very informative. Kids seem to love it. This section has recently been rearranged with glowing results.
The museum is open all seven days of the week but the hours vary. From Monday to Thursday and Saturday, it is open from 10am to 6pm, on Friday it is open from 10am to 9:30pm and on Sunday it open from 11am to 6pm. It cost $10.00 to visit the museum but they up the price for special exhibits. Reputedly on Friday it is free after 6pm but I have yet to check this out in person.
The ROM has been recently restored and a very flashy addition has been added to the building as whole. This is the much talked about, and in some circles acclaimed, "Crystal". This a series of jagged silver cubes that seems to be now engulfing the original building. The result has been somewhat controversial as some people hate while other love it. My opinion is growing towards the side of the latter. It certainly is distinctive but my criticism is that it really did not nothing to increase the size of the exhibition space. Also don't stand under one of the jagged edges after a snowfall or you will be impaled by an icicle.

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Building / renovation in progress, that was in 2007;
personally it was my museum where I saw the first Chinese travelling exhibition of the Jade burial robe and the bronze horses and chariot, before the now renown Xian Warriors

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**Also featured in travelouges**

The Royal Ontario Museum opened in 1914 and is now the largest collection of natural history and world cultures in the country, with a focus on Canada.

The Micheal Lee-Chin Crystal has finally been unveiled to the public, although some of the new galleries are still under construction the extra space is welcomed. I find most of us here in the city "hate" the new addition, I have one friend who refers to it as "the tumour!" Then again most of Paris still hates the pyrmid at the Louve, so whatever.

What I do find strange is the lack of colour used inside. The ENTIRE new wing is going to be stark white, with black and metal grates on the floor? Maybe when eveything is open it won't feel so devoid and cold, we shall see.

On a positve note though, the Gallery of Canada: First Peoples is a must see. Filled with clothing, canoes, sculpture and incredible paintings. A new wing dedicated to Canada will open Fall 07 as well as the Dinosaurs in the Winter 07.

The two new cafes are finally worthy of the ROM-- C5 the restaurant/lounge is beautiflly done, albeit black and white and is on the fifth floor at the peak of the new Crystal. C5 can be accessed from the street as well as from inside the museum.

There is also the option of Food Studio, the new healthy and "earth friendy, market style eatery." The prices seemed reasonable, everything looked very fresh and you can see from the photo's it is a bright airy space that is good for the whole family.

Currently showing Ancient Peru Unearthed until Sept. 3, there are more than 120 artifacts from the Pre-Incan, Sican culture on display. Loved the bat headdress with the eyes that move!

Peru: Secrets

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ROM is a great place. We were very fortunate to get a guided tour of the new dinosaur exhibit from Kaspian's brother and sister in law. Even without the private tour, this place is enormous and is a great way to spend the day.
Interesting note: they have the only complete triceretops skull here.
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the is toronto's best museum. it has a huge collection of everything, from dinosaurs, to cypriot artifacts. the exhibits are well layed out and informative. the asian exhibit is especially good. also very good is the canadian furniture exhibit (i know it sounds boring, but it was actually really neat).the native canadian exhibit has a very good collection of historic and modern art and artifacts. the ceiling of the rotunda is a beutifull golden mosaic. this museum has the highest totem pole in the world.
the architecture of the museum if great. in the older part, there are many intricate cavings, mostly of people. the newer part is a imposing steel crystal.

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The Royal Ontario Museum is certainly the best museum in the province, although it isn't quite the rival of the National Archeological Museum in Athens or the Louvre in Paris. Indeed, much of the museum's energy in recent years has been the completion of the crystal, although it did receive a large donation of Asian art a few years ago that has changed the composition of its collection greatly. The Asian collection is located on the ground floor and contains pottery, artwork and articles of everyday life from China, Korea and Japan. The pieces are interesting but the Chinese and Korean pottery is horribly arranged and confusing, making it difficult to follow the exhibit in a chronological fashion. The second floor is primarily for children and contains the natural history section, including the bat cave. The third floor, finally, is a semi-permanent collection of Islamic, Greek, Cypriot, Egyptian and European pieces and also occasional hosts traveling exhibits.

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At the time of my visit, Toronto was celebrating the opening of the new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal addition to the Royal Ontario Museum. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, it really stands out. Whether you like it or not, you must give credit for originality.

My companion remarked that it appeared that a spaceship had slammed into the building. They had live bands, speakers, and a vast throng of spectators. Quite a scene.

It was far too crowded to go inside. But it was worth visiting for the incredible sight of an old building with a new one stuck on it. Where else but Toronto would they do that?