Today I'm beginning a series of posts from the Canadian Museum of Nature, located in the downtown core. It is housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, which was built in tribute to the late Queen when the government bought the land in 1905. Designed by architect David Ewart, it has a lot of Gothic influences in its style, and animal images carved onto the exterior. It first housed the collection of the Geological Survey of Canada, and has housed collections for the National Gallery and Museum of History. After the 1916 fire that destroyed Centre Block, the building was home to the House of Commons and Senate during reconstruction on Parliament Hill. In 2010, a renovation was completed that added the glass tower at the front, now called The Queens' Lantern.
The property outside includes sculptures of dinosaurs on the east side.
On the west side, sculptures of a family of mammoths have been moved not far from their original location as part of a reworking of the property here. There is some landscaping left to be done for that project, so this area's currently fenced off, but I'll be showing you the final results down the line. Tomorrow I'll take you inside.
I love nature and am really looking forward to seeing inside! :)
ReplyDeleteMoose heads on a nature museum?!
ReplyDeleteLooks good already from the outside!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful building. I love the dinosurs sculptures!
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of great photo ops just from looking at the outside photos you have posted, William, but too bad the weather didn't cooperate with a brighter day. The interior must be fascinating.
ReplyDeleteLove museums of nature. Love the font on the last photo!
ReplyDeleteThat is some museum! Love the dinosaurs...they would go well in the halls of our Congress although no one would be able to tell the difference between them and the Republican majority! Love your header, too.
ReplyDeleteLove the dinosaurs!
ReplyDelete@Linda: I have quite a lot of shots.
ReplyDelete@Revrunner: and nicely carved ones!
@Halcyon: it reminds me of a castle.
@Tamago: and more dinosaurs to come.
@Beatrice: a more pleasant day would have been welcome.
@Janis: the masons who built it did good.
@Lowell: hah!
@Norma: me too.
The building is beautiful, let's go inside...
ReplyDeletethose doors and windows ... way cool architecture. neat-O!! ( ;
ReplyDeleteNature museums everywhere have always big mammals outside the building!
ReplyDeleteYes, I do remember visiting this museum when I was in Ottawa. Since I'm interested in Natural history, it was a hit with me.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a huge place.
ReplyDelete@Karl: I'm surprised that it's taken me as long as it has, in terms of having this blog, to photograph inside.
ReplyDelete@Beth: very cool architecture.
@VP: this one has a whole gallery of mammals!
@Red: it's no doubt changed considerably with the work they did a few years ago compared to your visit.
@Sharon: it certainly is a big place.
There have been many fires, indeed.
ReplyDeleteA grand building!
ReplyDeleteNot a huge fan of the glass in this case... But I love the entrance and the mammoths!
ReplyDeleteThe building and the animal sculptures are impressive. As you know, I love being in the nature, so I'm curious to see what's inside the museum.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing the interior! The entrance is super!
ReplyDeleteThat's a cool sculpture out the front. The shop in my photo is a newsagency, which predominantly sells newspapers and magazines. These types of shops have been a fixture in local shopping centres in Australia but starting to become endangered these days.
ReplyDeleteGreat building, I particularly like the idea of the dinosaurs and mammoths outside...
ReplyDelete@Jennifer: and that one was a bad one.
ReplyDelete@Marleen: it certainly is.
@Ciel: I can see that the glass isn't to everyone's taste- though I can say that it's the interior of the lantern that I actually prefer more. I have some shots in the coming posts from in there.
@Jan: it's a museum I do enjoy visiting. There are aspects of it that I didn't photograph this time, such as some creepy crawlies in a section called the animalia, if memory serves, and there's a section down below the ground floor I haven't gone into lately.
@RedPat: it certainly is.
@Jim: thanks for the answer. We have shops like that here, though your post reminded me of two newspapers here who have their offices in smaller buildings.
@Geoff: the two sets of sculptures serve the museum well.
Impressive building, and I would love to visit it.
ReplyDeleteMagnificent building, but I do not believe glass tower fits. I can't wait to see the inside.
ReplyDeleteimpressive building! cool sculptures!
ReplyDeleteThe Queen's Lantern - How COOL!
ReplyDeleteGreat building
Wonder how they herded those mammoths?
ReplyDeleteThe entrance has beautiful doors and it makes the museum look very inviting.
ReplyDelete@Denise: it is wonderful to see.
ReplyDelete@Mari: you may change your mind on how it is inside.
@Tex: thanks!
@Cloudia: it is a good name.
@Linda: hah!
@Kate: I agree.
So nice when old buildings can be renovated and reused!
ReplyDeleteIt is!
DeleteOhhhhh, I like these ones a lot.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThe dinosaurs and mammoths outside the building create such a wonderful atmosphere of both fantasy and legend. Like an invitiation to step out of your own daily reality for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
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