A Visit To The Royal Ontario Museum In Toronto

Looking for an excuse to take a day trip to downtown Toronto and give a toddler the thrill of riding the subway, we decided on a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum. Afterall, it had been a few years since our last visit to the ROM and it is probably one of the best ‘bang for your buck’ attractions in the city.

Weather cooperated, giving us a single day of near summer-like weather, sandwiched between bouts of blustery and cold crap. The toddler was thrilled with the train ride on the TTC subway and he was even more thrilled with the expansive collection of dinosaur bones at the museum.

Since 1912, the ROM has been located at 100 Queen’s Park, at the southwest corner of the intersection with Bloor Street West. In fact, the main entrance is now off Bloor Street and not Queen’s Park. The ROM is located just north of Queen’s Park, location of Ontario’s Parliament. Below Queen’s Park, the road is called University Avenue and north of Bloor Street, the road becomes Avenue Road.

Via subway, the best station to get out at if travelling along the Yonge-University line is Museum. If crossing the city from the east or west, the best bet is St. George Station on the Bloor-Danforth line.

The above image shows the interior entrance to the museum and is taken from within the Michael Lee-Chin designed Crystal. The Crystal is the latest expansion and opened in 2007.

The Royal Ontario Museum is open seven days per week from 10:30am until 5:30am. General admission starts at $16 for adults. Students and seniors (65+) pay $14.50 while children between 4 and 14 pay just $13. Children three and under are free.

However, the best value if you plan on visiting other main attractions in Toronto is the CityPASS package. For just $58.98 for adults and $37.98 for children aged 4-12, you can visit five of the city’s main attractions, including the ROM. The other four world class locations include the CN Tower, Casa Loma, Toronto Zoo and the Ontario Science Centre.

Through CityPASS, you stand to save nearly 50% off what it would cost if you walked up to each attraction and paid seperately. It should be noted that you must visit all five within a nine consecutive day period. The nine day period starts at your discretion, starting when you visit the first location. For more information, click the CityPASS advertisement to re-direct to their official website. CityPASS is not just for Toronto, there are packages available for several other North American cities, as well.

The above and below images are taken in the dinosaur section within the Crystal – note the odd angles of the walls.

Don’t worry shoppers, there is plenty of opportunity to spend at the gift shops! Also, reasonably priced and mostly healthy food is available on site at the Druxy’s ROM cafe.

There are 40 galleries in the museum with over 6 million articles in the collection. Galleries include the dinosaurs, Chinese architecture, Rome, Africa, Biodiversity and Greece, among others.

In the Earth’s Treasures Gallery, you will find a wide selection of priceless gems. One amazingly unique item in this gallery is the $1 million Canadian coin. Five of these coins were produced in 2007 by the Canadian Mint. This is a 100 kilogram coin made from 99.999% pure gold bullion. The value of $1 million is based on market rates in 2007. Of course, gold has gone up in value considerably since. The coin is recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records as the world’s largest gold coin. Needless to day, security guards and security cameras are abundant in this area.

Established in 1912, the ROM was opened to the public in March, 1914. There are over 6,000,000 articles in the museum’s collection and around a million visit the ROM on an annual basis.

Adjacent to the University of Toronto, the U of T had direct control of the ROM until 1968. The museum has been expanded several times over the years. The latest expansion was in 2007 with the Michael Lee-Chin designed Crystal providing radical contrast to the traditional design of the museum. The Crystal provides several floors of awkwardly angled space.

The above image is the Stair of Wonder, a stairway up through the crystal that is very photogenic and can induce vertigo. Don’t worry, there are several elevators that simply go in a straight line up and down…

Above, you have the really old world with a statue of Buddha. Below, you have the joining of old and new inside the museum. A kind of hidden feature of the ROM is the infusion of new architecture almost seamlessly into the older, original buildings. What was long ago outside and subject to the elements is now a corridor in the centre of the museum.

There are areas like the image below where it is very obvious that you are walking in a larger whole that has been pieced together from smaller parts throughout the years. However, often, you have no idea that you are walking between an area that was built in 1912 and an area that was built nearly a century later.

The Crystal takes advantage of the beauty of the cityscape outside the ROM. However, it could be better. The large, angled windows do show life outside the building as if it was just another exhibit in the museum.