Royal BC Museum
British Columbia's provincial museum of natural and human history, beside the Inner Harbour.
The Royal BC Museum traces its origins to 1886, when the provincial government established a museum of natural history and anthropology in Victoria after public petitioning to keep Indigenous belongings in the province. Today it holds some seven million items and specimens together with the BC Archives, covering natural history, human history and the documentary record of the province. Its collections and research programmes extend from palaeontology and botany to Indigenous language recordings, and staff work with First Nations on repatriation and on language revitalisation projects.
The present precinct was built in the 1960s to mark the centenary of the colony of British Columbia and opened in 1968, with the exhibits building, archives block and carillon tower designed by the Victoria firm Siddall, Dennis & Warner. Adjoining Thunderbird Park displays monumental poles and the Wawadit'la big house, and the grounds include Helmcken House, one of the oldest houses in the province still standing on its original site. An IMAX theatre operates within the complex, and touring exhibitions occupy the feature gallery.
Highlights
- Natural History Gallery with Ice Age and coastal dioramas
- Old Town, New Approach recreation of an early BC streetscape
- Jonathan Hunt House, a Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonial house interior
- Thunderbird Park poles and Wawadit'la big house outside
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