Canadian Museum of History
Canada's national history museum, in Douglas Cardinal's curving riverside building facing Parliament.
The Canadian Museum of History traces its origins to collections gathered by the Geological Survey of Canada in the nineteenth century, and was known as the National Museum of Man and then the Canadian Museum of Civilization before taking its present name in 2013. Its building on the Gatineau bank of the Ottawa River opened in 1989 to a design by the Blackfoot-Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal, whose flowing limestone curves were conceived as an evocation of glaciation and the Canadian Shield, and which face the Parliament buildings across the water.
The Grand Hall runs the length of the river facade behind a wall of glass and holds one of the world's largest indoor displays of totem poles, together with six Northwest Coast house facades. The First Peoples Hall covers Indigenous history and cultures across Canada, while the Canadian History Hall, opened in 2017, presents the country's history from the earliest peoples to the present across three levels. The museum also administers the neighbouring Canadian Children's Museum and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Highlights
- Grand Hall with totem poles and six Northwest Coast house facades
- Curving limestone building by architect Douglas Cardinal
- Canadian History Hall, opened in 2017 across three levels
- First Peoples Hall covering Indigenous histories across Canada
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