Royal British Columbia Museum
Encyclopedia
The Royal British Columbia Museum is a natural history and human history museum in Victoria
, British Columbia
, Canada
, founded in 1886. The "Royal" title was approved by Queen Elizabeth II and bestowed by HRH Prince Philip in 1987, to coincide with a Royal tour that year. It merged with the British Columbia Provincial Archives in 2003.
It includes three permanent galleries and an IMAX
theatre which shows educational films as well as commercial entertainment such as the Spider-Man
films, Inception
, and others. It hosts touring exhibits from around the world. In recent years, these included exhibits on the RMS Titanic, Leonardo da Vinci
, Egyptian
artifacts and Genghis Khan
.
The natural history collections have 750,000 records of specimens almost exclusively from BC and neighbouring states, provinces or territories. The collections are divided into eight disciplines: Entomology, Botany, Paleontology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Zoology, Herpetology, Mammals, and Ornithology. Bryophytes and Algae are not well represented.
The museum is in Victoria's Inner Harbour, between the Empress Hotel
and the Legislature Buildings
. The museum anchors the Royal BC Museum Cultural Precinct, a surrounding area with historical sites and monuments, including Thunderbird Park
.
In October 2008, the museum was named one of BC's Top Employers
by Mediacorp Canada Inc.
delta, and prehistoric life (including a woolly mammoth
), and a simulated journey to the depths of the ocean. More recently, a section on climate was added, including information on the effects of modern climate change
.
The modern history gallery on the third floor begins with "Century Hall" which displays collections of artifacts of the 20th century. Visitors pass into a replica of a cobblestone
streetscape of early 20th-century Victoria (with silent movie theatre, a hotel, a train station, old automobiles, and Chinatown
). The display shifts to a tour of early forestry, fishing, and mining industries (including a mine shaft and water wheel
), and then a history of exploration (that includes a model of the original Fort Victoria
and a large scale replica of Captain George Vancouver
's ship the HMS Discovery
.
The First People's gallery on the third floor is a First Nations
exhibit, portraying life before and after contact with Europeans. The gallery includes a collection of masks, totem pole
s, and a Kwakwaka'wakw
longhouse
built by Henry Hunt
, and grandsons, Tony Hunt
and Richard Hunt
. The gallery is criticized by indigenous scholars for its portrayal of First Nations
people, and its use of controversial images and film from Edward Curtis.
, CHIN
, and Virtual Museum of Canada
.
Image:Thunderbird Park Royal Museum BC.jpg|Thunderbird Park
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|Stó:lō
people fishing with traditional dipnets on the Fraser River
File:Stolo woman with cedar basket.jpg|Stó:lō
woman with a cedar
basket
File:Totem haida.jpg|Haida totem pole in Thunderbird Park
File:Totem RMBC 1.jpg|Other Haida totems in Thunderbird Park
File:TotemPoleVictoriaBC-3.jpg|A totem pole
on the grounds of the Royal BC Museum
File:Okanagan Family Portrait.JPg|Okanagan/Syilx family portrait
File:TotemPoleVictoriaBC-2.jpg|A totem pole located outside the Royal BC Museum
File:Fashion gloves1.jpg|Historical ladies' accessories
File:Underwater-RBC.jpg|A recreated underwater exhibit at the Royal BC Museum
File:Elizabeth-RBC.jpg|A car in a recreated garage at the Royal BC Museum
File:Royal Museum Front.jpg|The main entrance of the Royal BC Museum
File:Totempfaehle vor BC Museum.jpg|Totem poles in front of the Royal BC Museum
File:TotemPolesVictoriaBC-1.jpg|Several totem poles in Thunderbird Park
48°25′10"N 123°22′4"W
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, founded in 1886. The "Royal" title was approved by Queen Elizabeth II and bestowed by HRH Prince Philip in 1987, to coincide with a Royal tour that year. It merged with the British Columbia Provincial Archives in 2003.
It includes three permanent galleries and an IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
theatre which shows educational films as well as commercial entertainment such as the Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
films, Inception
Inception
Inception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
, and others. It hosts touring exhibits from around the world. In recent years, these included exhibits on the RMS Titanic, Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
artifacts and Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
.
The natural history collections have 750,000 records of specimens almost exclusively from BC and neighbouring states, provinces or territories. The collections are divided into eight disciplines: Entomology, Botany, Paleontology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Zoology, Herpetology, Mammals, and Ornithology. Bryophytes and Algae are not well represented.
The museum is in Victoria's Inner Harbour, between the Empress Hotel
The Empress (Hotel)
The Fairmont Empress is one of the oldest and most famous hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Located on Government Street facing the Inner Harbour, the Empress has become an iconic symbol for the city itself...
and the Legislature Buildings
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
The 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 with historical sites and monuments, including Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird 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...
.
In October 2008, the museum was named one of BC's Top Employers
BC's Top Employers
BC'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.
Permanent galleries
The natural history gallery on the second floor displays life-sized displays of the diverse geography of the province (such as the Fraser RiverFraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
delta, and prehistoric life (including a woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a 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...
), and a simulated journey to the depths of the ocean. More recently, a section on climate was added, including information on the effects of modern climate change
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
.
The modern history gallery on the third floor begins with "Century Hall" which displays collections of artifacts of the 20th century. Visitors pass into a replica of a cobblestone
Cobblestone
Cobblestones 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 (with silent movie theatre, a hotel, a train station, old automobiles, and Chinatown
Chinatown, Victoria
The Chinatown in Victoria, British Columbia is the oldest in Canada and second in age only to San Francisco's in North America, with its beginnings in the mass influx of miners from California to what is now British Columbia in 1858. Its history goes back to the mid nineteenth century. It remains...
). The display shifts to a tour of early forestry, fishing, and mining industries (including a mine shaft and water wheel
Water wheel
A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...
), and then a history of exploration (that includes a model of the original Fort Victoria
Fort Victoria (British Columbia)
Fort 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 Vancouver
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...
's ship the HMS Discovery
HMS Discovery (1789)
HMS Discovery was a Royal Navy ship launched in 1789 and best known as the lead ship in George Vancouver's exploration of the west coast of North America in his famous 1791-1795 expedition. She was converted to a bomb vessel in 1798 and participated in the Battle of Copenhagen. Thereafter she...
.
The First People's gallery on the third floor is a First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
exhibit, portraying life before and after contact with Europeans. The gallery includes a collection of masks, totem pole
Totem pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...
s, and a Kwakwaka'wakw
Kwakwaka'wakw
The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations peoples, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland and islands.Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
longhouse
Native American long house
Longhouses were built by native peoples in various parts of North America, sometimes reaching over but generally around wide. The dominant theory is that walls were made of sharpened and fire-hardened poles driven into the ground and the roof consisted of leaves and grass...
built by Henry Hunt
Henry Hunt (artist)
Henry 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 Hunt
Tony Hunt (artist)
Tony 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 Hunt
Richard Hunt (artist)
Richard Hunt is a Canadian First Nations artist from the Kwakwaka'wakw nation of coastal British Columbia.He was born in 1951 at Alert Bay, B.C., but has lived most of his life in Victoria, B.C. On his father's side, he is a descendant of the renowned Native ethnologist George Hunt...
. The gallery is criticized by indigenous scholars for its portrayal of First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
people, and its use of controversial images and film from Edward Curtis.
Affiliations
The Museum is affiliated with: CMACanadian Museums Association
The Canadian Museums Association is a national organization for the promotion of museums in Canada.The Canadian Museums Association is the national organization for the advancement of the Canadian museum sector, representing Canadian museum professionals both within Canada and internationally. The...
, CHIN
Canadian Heritage Information Network
The 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 Canada
Virtual Museum of Canada
The Virtual Museum of Canada is Canada's national virtual museum. With a directory of over 3,000 Canadian heritage institutions and a database of over 600 virtual exhibits, the VMC brings together Canada's museums regardless of size or geographical location.The VMC includes virtual exhibits,...
.
Images
Image:Thunderbird Park Royal Museum BC.jpg|Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird 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...
with the museum in the background
Image:Wooly Mammoth-RBC.jpg|The popular woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a 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...
in the natural history gallery
Image:Water Wheel-RBC.jpg|The recreated water wheel in the modern history gallery
File:Stolo with dipnets.jpg|Stó:lō
Stó:lo
The Sto:lo , alternately written as Stó:lō, Stó:lô or Stó:lõ and historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of...
people fishing with traditional dipnets on the Fraser River
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
File:Stolo woman with cedar basket.jpg|Stó:lō
Stó:lo
The Sto:lo , alternately written as Stó:lō, Stó:lô or Stó:lõ and historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of...
woman with a cedar
Cedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
basket
File:Totem haida.jpg|Haida totem pole in Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird 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...
File:Totem RMBC 1.jpg|Other Haida totems in Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird 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...
File:TotemPoleVictoriaBC-3.jpg|A totem pole
Totem pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America...
on the grounds of the Royal BC Museum
File:Okanagan Family Portrait.JPg|Okanagan/Syilx family portrait
File:TotemPoleVictoriaBC-2.jpg|A totem pole located outside the Royal BC Museum
File:Fashion gloves1.jpg|Historical ladies' accessories
File:Underwater-RBC.jpg|A recreated underwater exhibit at the Royal BC Museum
File:Elizabeth-RBC.jpg|A car in a recreated garage at the Royal BC Museum
File:Royal Museum Front.jpg|The main entrance of the Royal BC Museum
File:Totempfaehle vor BC Museum.jpg|Totem poles in front of the Royal BC Museum
File:TotemPolesVictoriaBC-1.jpg|Several totem poles in Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird Park
Thunderbird 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...
External links
48°25′10"N 123°22′4"W