Museum sights in Toronto
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Royal Ontario Museum
The multidisciplinary ROM was already Canada’s biggest natural history museum, even before embarking upon the ‘Renaissance ROM’ building project, which should be complete by the time you read this. The new work involves a magnificent explosion of architectural crystals on Bloor St, housing an array of new galleries. ROM’s collections bounce between natural science, ancient civilization and art exhibits. The Chinese temple sculptures, Gallery of Korean Art and costumery and textile collections are some of the best in the world. Kids file out of yellow school buses chugging by the sidewalk and rush to the dinosaur rooms, Egyptian mummies and Jamaican bat-cave replica. Don’t…
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Hockey Hall of Fame
Inside an ornate rococo gray stone Bank of Montreal building (c 1885) on the Yonge St lower concourse, the Hockey Hall of Fame gives hockey fans everything they could possibly want. Check out the collection of Texas Chainsaw Massacre–esque goalkeeping masks, attempt to stop Wayne Gretzky’s virtual shot or have your photo taken with hockey’s biggest prize – the hefty Stanley Cup (no trifling shield or pint-sized urn for these boys, oh no). Even visitors unfamiliar with this super-fast, ultra-violent sport will be impressed with the interactive multimedia exhibits and hockey nostalgia.
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Ontario Science Centre
Climb a rock wall, journey to the center of a human heart, catch a criminal with DNA fingerprinting and race an Olympic bobsled at the excellent, interactive Ontario Science Centre. Over 800 high-tech exhibits and live demonstrations wow the kids (and the adults at the back, pretending not to be interested). Also here is the giant domed Omnimax Cinema. Check the website for family events, including theme-night sleepovers ($54, reservations required). Parking is $8. To get here, take the subway to Eglinton then bus 34, or Pape then bus 25.
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Canadian Broadcasting Centre
Toronto’s enormous Canadian Broadcasting Centre is the headquarters for English-language radio and TV across Canada. French-language production is in Montréal, which leaves the president (in a truly Canadian spirit of compromise) stranded in Ottawa. You can peek at the radio newsrooms anytime or attend a concert in the world-class Glenn Gould Studio. Don’t miss the miniature-sized CBC Museum with its amazing collection of antique microphones (the 1949 RCA 74DX is a doozy!), sound-effects machines, tape recorders and puppets from kids’ TV shows.
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Toronto's First Post Office
Dating from the 1830s, the old post office is now a living museum. After you've written your letter with a quill and ink, seal it with wax and send it postmarked 'York-Toronto 1833' for a small fee. Famous folks like William Lyon Mackenzie and the Baldwins once rented postal boxes here. At the back is an old-fashioned reading room with historical displays and a model of Toronto c 1833. Self-guided tour pamphlets are available at the door. Look for the British and Canadian flags flying out front, just west of the Bank of Upper Canada building.
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Redpath Sugar Museum
The working Redpath sugar refinery, a descendant of Canada's oldest refinery which opened in Montréal in 1854, wafts delicious sugary smells along Queens Quay E. Inside, a small museum tackles a variety of topics related to the social development and modern refining of sugar, with biographic information on founder John Redpath. A 15-minute film explains the modern refining process. Enter via the west gate near the foot of Yonge St, sign in at the security desk and follow the museum signs (watch out for trucks!).
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Spadina Museum
This gracious museum was built in 1866 as a country estate for financier James Austin and his family. Lit by Victorian gaslights, the interior contains three generations of furnishings, art and fabrics. The working kitchen hosts cooking demonstrations by costumed workers, while Edwardian Teas, strawberry festivals and summer concerts are held in the apple orchard. When we visited, the museum was closed for re-restoration and was set to open with new exhibits on the 1920s. Parking costs $8.25.
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Riverdale Farm
This farm was once the Toronto Zoo, where prairie wolves howled at night and spooked the Cabbagetown kids. It’s now run as a working-farm museum, with two barns, a summer wading pool, and pens of sundry fowl and animals (geese, goats, pigs, rabbits, turkeys etc). Kids follow the farmer around as he does his daily chores, including milking the cows at 10:30am. The Tuesday farmers’ market (3pm to 7pm May to October) features hippies selling organic goods and buskers playing Appalachian mountain dobros.
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Mackenzie House
Built in 1858, this brown brick rowhouse was owned by William Lyon Mackenzie, the city's first mayor and the leader of the failed Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Inside is a museum, a re-created printshop and a gallery featuring changing exhibitions. Check out the brass door knocker, presented to Mackenzie in 1859 after his return from exile in America. Handmade 'Mackenzie: Rebel with a Cause' T-shirts and reproductions of the 'ye olde' variety are sold in the gift shop.
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Police Museum & Discovery Centre
Inside the monumental Toronto Police HQ, this nonprofit museum has a small but diverting collection of equipment, uniforms, vehicles and crime-related paraphernalia from 1834 to the present day. Aspiring CSIs can learn how to trace a murderer's DNA from a cigarette butt, while an antique (if a little morbid) billboard clocks traffic deaths in Toronto and A/V exhibits convey the evils of narcotics. Displays attempting to humanize parking inspectors are less effective.
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Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art
Opposite the Royal Ontario Museum, the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art was founded by philanthropists. Spread over three floors, collections cover several millennia; various rooms focus on 17th- and 18th-century English tavern ware, Italian Renaissance majolica, ancient American earthenware and blue-and-white Chinese porcelain. There are free guided tours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 2pm.
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Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art
The MOCCA is the city’s only museum mandated to collect works by living Canadian and international visual artists. West Queen West has consolidated as an arts and design precinct – the perfect location for this facility. Permanent holdings only number about 400 works, curated since 1985, but award-winning temporary exhibitions promote emerging artists from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.
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Bata Shoe Museum
It’s important in life to be well shod, a stance the Bata Shoe Museum takes seriously. Designed by architect Raymond Moriyama to resemble a stylized shoebox, the museum displays 10,000 ‘pedi-artifacts’ from around the globe. Peruse 19th-century French chestnut-crushing clogs, Canadian Aboriginal polar boots or famous modern pairs worn by Elton John, Indira Gandhi and Pablo Picasso.
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Textile Museum of Canada
Obscurely located at the bottom of a condo tower in a cultureless corner of town, this museum has exhibits drawing on a permanent collection of 10,000 items from Latin America, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia and India, as well as contemporary Canada. Workshops teach batik making, weaving, knitting and all manner of needle-stuff.
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Toronto Dominion Gallery of Inuit Art
An unexpectedly calm sanctuary in the bustle of the Financial District, the Toronto Dominion Gallery of Inuit Art provides an exceptional insight into Inuit culture. Inside the Toronto-Dominion Centre, a succession of glass cases displays otter, bear, eagles and carved Inuit figures in day-to-day scenes.
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