Royal Ontario Museum

Recently modernised and expanded, the original Royal Ontario Museum was established by an Act of Ontario Legislature in 1912. It opened to the public two years later.

The Royal Ontario Museum’s vast collection of world cultures and natural history make the ROM one of the largest museums of its kind in North America, and once the renovations are complete in mid 2007, even more of the six million objects owned by the museum will be on display on a regular basis.

The museum’s Department of Natural History draws objects from 12 collection and research areas: Botany, Entomology, Herpetology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Zoology, Mammalogy, Mycology, Ornithology, Invertebrate Palaeontology, Vertebrate Palaeontology, Geology, and Mineralogy. Current Natural History galleries include displays on bats, birds, reptiles, and other animal communities.

The World Cultures Department has collected artifacts and other items from around the globe, including Europe, the Far East, Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome, and the indigenous peoples of Canada. World Culture galleries treat guests to views of Chinese Temple Art and Sculpture, historic textiles and costumes, West Asian and Europe arts and crafts, and displays featuring items from the First Peoples of Canada.

Some of the Museum's highlights include the richly decorated Egyptian sarcophagus of the Djedmaatesankh mummy which dates back to around 850 BC, a model of the Acropolis in Athens and skeletons of Allosaur Dinosaurs. And a Tomb dating back to the Ming dynasty is just one of the museum's many Chinese treasures.

A massive expansion of the ROM, scheduled to be finished mid-2007, consists of the renovation of 75% of the existing museum as well as the addition of about 80,000 square feet of public space thanks to a new annex known as the Michael A. Lee-Chin Crystal.
Named after the lead donor, the magnificent glass- and aluminium clad annex was designed by Daniel Libeskind who is also known for his extension of the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
Three eateries, including one fine-dining restaurant, will be onsite, and a new, expanded ROM museum store is sure to impress visitors.