Monday, January 20, 2014

Wandering Into The Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum sprawls over several floors, with galleries containing various themes from around the world. The first gallery I went through contained a First Nations theme, with carved chests and artifacts on display.


That includes tribal ceremonial dress.


As a child, I was always awestruck by two massive totem poles in the museum. It's impossible to take a picture of one in full; these staircases wind around them, giving the visitor a look at the details as they ascend. Instead, combining the stairs and a section of the pole makes for a stark contrast in a photograph.


With the renovations, the entrance area has shifted away from where it was, and been reconfigured. Close to the totem poles, on a wall in that central hall, is this dinosaur skeletal display. There are plenty of fossils elsewhere in the museum, but this is a taste of what's to come for the visitor.


The rotunda is off this hall, and while I was there, there were four singers in Victorian garb singing Christmas carols. It seemed strangely fitting. This vase is in one of the alcoves in the rotunda.


It always helps to look up in a museum. This is the ceiling of the rotunda.


26 comments:

  1. Neat! Looks like a fascinating place to visit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If I'm not mistaken, that's coastal and woodland. It's a good way to see the totem pole and the ceiling is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think I would be too self-conscious, but I could see trying to take a photo of a totem pole from the floor facing upwards to the ceiling.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We visited the ROM during a fall visit to Toronto last year. It was a very interesting and enjoyable day. The architecture inside and outside does make for unusual contrasts, and not all for the better, I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great blog and wonderful photos.
    I do love museums.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely photos . Oh good lord last time I went there I was a kid lol ! Thanks for sharing . Have a good week .

    ReplyDelete
  7. It looks like this museum has a little something for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I haven't been inside the ROM for a long, long time. Nice photos!

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Linda: it is!

    @Ciel: there's a design with a ceiling in a museum here that I must photograph... also one of those things you'll miss if you don't look up.

    @Revrunner: I did think about it!

    @Beatrice: in this case, the interior compensates quite well for that Crystal structure.

    @Debs: thank you!

    @Mo: museums draw me like moths to a flame.

    @Country Gal: it hadn't been quite that long for me, but it has been awhile!

    @Sharon: oh, yes, its collection is varied.

    @EG: if you get a chance, you should go.

    @Tanya: I quite enjoyed the day in there.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh I could hardly wait to see the inside. I love all First Nation artifacts. Great idea incorporating the staircase with the Totem. As you say--always look up. Super! MB

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks like an expansive museum. I could see how you spend the day there. Love the idea of the totem in the staircase.

    ReplyDelete
  12. nice ceiling but it would do my neck in to look at it

    ReplyDelete
  13. I always love seeing the first nations clothing. It's amazing how detailed those headdresses and such are.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wonderful pieces of Art, fascinating !

    ReplyDelete
  15. A lot of variety in this museum. Really love that ceiling too!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for looking up, despite the neck crick:) - I love the detail in that ceiling! Amazing pieces here, and how can one not love the totems and headdresses:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. @MB: more to come!

    @Tamera: I was astonished by it.

    @Stuart: having the staircase around it really does give you an appreciation up close for it.

    @Gerald: I suspect my dad would have the same problem!

    @Halcyon: I should have taken a pic of the headdress they have from Sitting Bull.

    @Karl: thank you!

    @Lauren: it's intricate detailed.

    @LondonLulu: the museum has a terrific collection.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you for these. It has been decades since I was last inside the ROM

    ReplyDelete
  19. Looks like my kind of place, William..! Love the ceiling.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The ceiling in the bottom shot is just amazing! The totem pole made me think of the British Museum in London, where they have a huge one on the stairs too.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I was at a re-enactment once where I had the chance to wear one of these suits of armour. I could barely stand upright!

    ReplyDelete
  22. @Hamilton: I should go back sometime.

    @Mike: it's a grand museum.

    @Cheryl: as do I.

    @JM: thanks!

    @Hamilton: I have had a chance to try the gauntlets on. They're quite awkward.

    ReplyDelete