Into The Museum Of Nature

Today I start a new series, with a visit made last month to the Canadian Museum of Nature. Another of the national museums here in the capital region, the Museum of Nature has its origins dating back to 1856, and is housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum Building downtown. This castle, built in memory of the late Queen, mixes the Gothic and Tudor styles, with some Beaux-Arts as well. In recent years it has seen modifications, including the glass tower called the Queens Lantern, which replaced an original stone tower that was removed some years after the building was erected. The building has housed more than one museum collection over the years, as Nature shared space with what is now the Museum of History, and has even housed Parliament for some years after the 1916 fire that destroyed Centre Block. These days it is exclusively home to the Museum of Nature, which organizes its galleries thematically.

Here we have a view from the Landscapes of Canada Gardens, with the statues of a family of mammoths.

The building itself is a beauty, with animals carved into the walls.

Inside the entrance, there are more details to be found, and historical plaques.

And there are stunning stained glass windows, with nature and science as the themes.

I finish for today with a view of one of the interior stained glass windows, taken inside the central atrium. Tomorrow we start with the tour.