History

Rounding out this visit today inside the Earth Gallery.

This large rock is rich in copper and nickel.

It was time to move onto the next gallery space. I headed out into the Queens Lantern, where some of the history of the building is examined. It is officially the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, originally built in honour of the Queen. Aside from the natural world collections, this building has housed other elements of the national museums at one point or another.

The administrative side and the larger collections of this museum are over in Gatineau.

There are stories that the building is haunted. Some suggest it's Wilfrid Laurier, whose body laid in state here before his funeral.

There have been renovations over time, including back in the 1990s.

A larger one was undertaken in the first decade of this century. Improvements were made, including additions to galleries, seismic reinforcements, and the addition of the Queens Lantern, which replaced a stone tower of the original building that had to be removed.

The Queens Lantern is a delight inside, very modern, but fitting well with the older architecture. It was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010, and is named both for her and for Victoria.

The Moon overhead is irresistible for the photographer.

Cave

 More today inside the cave within the Museum of Nature.

Magmatic rocks rise up out of the depths of the earth.

The minerals within magmatic rock can be very valuable, and very photogenic. Nature has created this work of art that carries a title- The Lovers. 

Cave

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo that the theme for May 1st is Fruit. 

Another still from a video, in which erosion to sedimentary rock leads to sand- which will someday become sedimentary rock again.

A great part of the Museum is tucked away back here- an artificial cave.

There is a book at the entrance and one inside that details certain physical features of a cave. A careful eye will find each of them inside this cave.

And in we go. It's spacious, and even a wheelchair can get in without issue.

Change

 Subjected to the pressures and heat within the earth, one kind of rock can transform into something new. These are metamorphic rocks, which after magmatic rock is another of the three kinds of rock.

Sedimentary rocks are the most common kind of rocks, created by eroded rock particles that are collected, compacted, and cemented together into new rock. In short, what was once sedimentary rock and is now sand will one day again be sedimentary rock.

Some of the world's most famous buildings have sedimentary rock as part of their construction. This museum and Parliament Hill join structures like Petra in Jordan, and the Egyptian pyramids, in consisting of sedimentary rock.

A video monitor looks at sedimentary rock landscapes. We'll pick up here tomorrow.