Royal Ontario Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum at 100 Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, is Canada's largest museum of world culture and natural history. It was founded in 1912 and opened to the public in 1914, and it was run as part of the University of Toronto until it became an independent institution in 1968. The museum holds millions of objects across art, archaeology and natural science. Notable galleries include the Gallery of First Peoples, which presents Indigenous histories and cultures of Canada, the Sigmund Samuel Canadiana Gallery, which displays early Canadian furniture, silver and decorative arts, and extensive Chinese collections, including a Ming dynasty tomb. Natural history halls feature dinosaurs, bats and minerals, among them the Dinosaur Gallery with skeletons from the Cretaceous period and the Teck Suite of Gems and Gold. The building combines the original 1914 Edwardian and Romanesque wing with later additions. The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, designed by the architect Daniel Libeskind and opened in 2007, added a jagged, faceted form of glass and aluminum to the Bloor Street frontage. The curatorial approach mixes thematic and chronological galleries, with some displays organized by region or culture and others by science. Over its history the museum has undergone restoration and renovation programs, notably the Renaissance ROM project of the 2000s, which repaired the heritage wings and added new spaces. Admission fees apply, with discounts for students and children, and the museum offers late-opening evenings and free-entry periods on selected occasions. Because the collections are large, visitors typically choose a few galleries and allow at least three hours. The museum is next to Museum subway station on TTC Line 1.