Volcanic

Different kinds of volcanoes are examined in detail here in the Earth Gallery.

Another kind of destructive power: earthquakes. A map shows different quakes across the world, in different scales, in a time frame you choose.

Minerals

Display cases in the Earth Gallery include samples of rocks, minerals, crystals, and gems.

Panels go into detail about various aspects, including mining.

Diamonds: a girl's best friend?

Whatever they are, they are richly varied.

Planet Origins

The Earth Gallery is the next space within the Museum of Nature. It examines the building blocks of the planet, rocks, minerals, gems, and essential forces that makes the Earth tick.

A piece of the Moon, brought back in the last manned mission to our satellite, is here.

Panels examine the cosmic forces that went into the development of the solar system and our world.

Items here include meteorite fragments.

Lantern Views

The burning of Centre Block on Parliament Hill looms in the story of the Museum of Nature, as it hosted temporary quarters for our Parliament for a number of years during the rebuild.

When the former Prime Minister, Wilfred Laurier, died, he laid in state inside the Museum 

This view looking up at the Moon includes some of the side we're more accustomed to.

The Museum's collection began to grow out of its earliest exhibits, particularly the collection of the Geological Survey. 

During the 1990s, preparations were made for a project of rehabilitation of the building that would include the Queens Lantern. The Museum would remain open during the work, with some limited access at times.

The Lantern is dedicated to two Queens: Victoria and Elizabeth, the latter of whom attended the formal reopening in 2010. New gallery concepts and expanded spaces would be part of the project.

To this day, there are stories of hauntings in the building, which seems appropriate in a castle.

The exhibits and public face of the Museum of Nature are here, but the administrative centre, housing research and collections vaults, are over in Gatineau.

For today I finish off with two more views of the Moon before we go over to another gallery.

Queens Lantern

Last year being the 50th anniversary of the first landing on the Moon, a large scale model of the Moon was hung inside the Queens Lantern, and remains here at the moment. The familiar view we see faces out towards the north, so most of the views from inside the Lantern are of the less familiar dark side of the Moon.

This view looks north along Metcalfe Street, which leads towards Parliament Hill.

This view looks to the east.

And this view looks east. The family of woolly mammoths that are part of the Landscapes of Canada Gardens can be seen down there.

More views of our lunar neighbour.

One flight down, a walkway features historical information about the building and its architecture.

The Museum's origins date back a half century before the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, with the founding of the Geological Survey of Canada.