Museum sights in Vancouver
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BC Sports Hall of Fame & Museum
Located inside BC Place Stadium, the small but perfectly formed Sports Hall of Fame showcases top BC athletes, both amateur and professional, with special galleries devoted to each decade in sports. There’s a wealth of medals, trophies and sporting memorabilia on display (judging by the size of their shirts, hockey players were much smaller in the old days) and there are tons of hands-on activities to tire the kids out. Check out the stirring exhibits on Terry Fox and his ‘Marathon of Hope’ run across Canada, plus Rick Hanson and his ‘Man-in-Motion’ worldwide wheelchair journey.
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Museum Of Anthropology
With Canada's best display of northwest-coast First Nations artifacts in a spectacular waterfront setting, this is Vancouver's best museum. The totem poles alone - displayed against a wall of glass overlooking the coastline - are worth the admission. Technically speaking, the focus is global cultures - you'll be able to dip into Asian, African and Pacific artifacts - but the best exhibits showcase the intricacies of BC's coastal First Nations, including many works by legendary Haida artist Bill Reid. Take one of the free tours to get the most from your visit, and save time for the Haida village, an outdoor re-creation of a traditional settlement, complete with a longhouse…
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C
Science World & Alcan Omnimax Theatre
Nestled under the city’s gleaming geodesic dome (or ‘silver golf ball’ as the locals often call it) are two levels of hands-on science, technology and natural-history exhibits aimed at satisfying the most enquiring of minds. It’s an ideal place to bring kids – the gallery that explores sustainability issues is recommended, along with the water course of ball cannons and bridges. Expect to spend at least a few hours here. Level 3 holds the 400-seat Omnimax Theatre (tickets $10), showing large-format documentary movies to those who need a sit down.
Level 3 holds the 400-seat Omnimax Theatre (tickets around C$10), showing large-format documentary movies to those w…
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D
Vancouver Police Centennial Museum
Colorfully charting the city’s murky criminal past, displays at this excellent little museum include an autopsy room with pieces of damaged body parts posted on the wall (note the brain with a.22 caliber bullet in it) and an exhibit describing how to determine a corpse’s age via insects (blowflies appear in 15 days, cheese-skippers in 40 days). Visitors can see what a 1oz lump of heroin looks like or peruse bad-ass weaponry, including a gangster-era Thompson submachine gun. Also consider the gripping Sins of the City walking tour ($12), which escorts curious visitors through the dodgy Downtown Eastside’s eye-popping vice and crime-fighting history.
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Chinese Cultural Centre Museum & Archives
Check out this museum for a deeper understanding of the often-turbulent history of Vancouver’s Chinese immigrants. Changing exhibits are on the main floor, while the 2nd floor’s permanent collection highlights Gold Rush history and Chinatown settlement. It also houses the Military Museum, showcasing the sometimes unsung role of Chinese-Canadian soldiers in both world wars. The museum is linked to the Cultural Centre (50 E Pender St) where you can sign up for short workshops in calligraphy, t’ai chi and Chinese music. The centre also offers museum tours (adult/child $4/3) and Chinatown walking tours (adult/child $8/5).
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Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
Those interested in Canadian Pacific Railway heritage should visit the Roundhouse, formerly a CPR repair shed. It now houses the handsome and highly historic Engine No 374, which trundled the first passenger train into the city in 1887. Parked in a smashing little volunteer-run museum (www.wcra.org/engine374; admission free), it’s a great trainspotter’s pit stop. On special occasions, the engine is pulled outside onto the antique turntable. The complex’s main building is a busy community center and performance space, with a wide array of shows and cultural events on offer – check the website for listings.
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Vancouver Museum
One of the three well-established educational attractions clustered together in Vanier Park, the Vancouver Museum recounts both distant and recent city history. It includes some colorful displays on 1950s pop culture and 1960s hippy counterculture - a reminder that Kits was once the grass-smoking center of Vancouver's flower-power movement. Permanent exhibits include a look at the everyday life of First Nations people; passenger quarters on a groaning life-sized immigrant ship; and a full-scale sawmill wheel. The temporary exhibits are usually intriguing - check the museum's website to see what's coming up.
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Vancouver Maritime Museum
This library-quiet attraction, a five-minute walk west of the Vancouver Museum, combines dozens of intricate model ships with some detailed re-created boat sections and a few historic vessels. The main draw is the St Roch, a 1928 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Arctic patrol sailing ship that was the first vessel to navigate the legendary Northwest Passage in both directions. The A-frame museum building was actually built around this ship and evocative free tours of the vessel are offered.
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Model Trains Museum & Model Ships Museum
Of the twin museums discreetly housed here under one roof, the train museum wins hands down. With one of the world’s largest toy locomotive collections – there are so many that only a lucky few get to rattle around the giant BC railway layout – it will be rare if you don’t spot a reminder or two from your childhood. There are no similarly exciting moving displays in the downstairs ship museum, but there are still some intriguing, highly detailed model freighters, frigates and submarines – check out that Nautilus. Expect to see several excited fathers trying unsuccessfully to interest their kids in schooner rigging and double-O gauges here.
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