Royal BC Museum

Royal BC MuseumRoyal British Columbia Museum is located in Victoria BC, Canada. The museum is situated on Vancouver Island. It is a place of historical importance. The museum preserves the history in forms of artifacts. Earlier the museum was known as British Columbia Museum. The museum name was added with ‘Royal’ tag as an honor to Queen Elizabeth II, who visited the museum in 1987.

Unique Features of the Royal British Columbia Museum
The museum is very popular amongst tourists as well as locals. It is one of the places of attraction for tourists when they visit Victoria BC. The museum preserves number of artifacts and items of historical importance such as masks, totem poles and clothing. You will find an IMAX theatre within the museum premises. You can experience the unique simulated ocean journey, giving you feelings of sea depth travel, while visiting the museum. Lively models of local wild animals, and created environment for such animals (in which they actually live) is another feature of the museum. To make the environment realistic, Coastal Forest dioramas and Ice Age displayed in a manner that the visitor will feel as if he is really in that environment. If you are lucky, you will get an opportunity to witness the touring exhibits hosted by the museum from all over the world. You can see some rare artifacts including Genghis Khan, Egyptian artifacts and Leonardo da Vinci in these exhibits.

The museum is housed in a three storey building. You can study the human and natural history of British Columbia by visiting the museum. Third floor of the museum displays replica of cobblestone town. These towns were in existence during early 20th century. You will find all the features of cobblestone town like, silent movie theatre, old automobiles and hotel in the replica created in the museum. You can experience feeling of mining industry, fishing and touring early forestry by visiting museum. You will see water wheel and mine shaft while touring the mining industry in the museum. You can gather lot of information about the ancient Victoria by studying various articles available in the museum. You will find a model of Fort Victoria in the museum. There is a large model of a ship. You can even walk through in this model ship.

Then there is a First Nations exhibit. This First Nations exhibit includes descriptions about the experience of indigenous countrymen when they first faced the Europeans and a longhouse. You experience the feeling of going backwards in the ear when these incidents happened as visual displays in the museum are of life-sized accompanied by the background sounds. There are number of such films throughout the museum. It gives you a feeling as if the scenes you are seeing still exist and you are making a live trip.

Then there is a Modern History Gallery. This galley depicts emergence of industrial society in British Columbia.

For your purchase needs there are shops named ‘Royal Museum Shop” and ‘National Geographic Shop’ run by Friends of the Royal BC Museum. You can by antiques, crafts and replicas from these shops that will make you understand the history of Victoria. You will find quality items such as publications, gourmets, jewelry, videos, calendars and food products in these shops.

When to visit the Royal British Columbia Museum
The museum remains opened from 9 am to 5 pm on all days.
IMAX remains opened between 9 am and 9 pm on all days.
New Year’s Day and Christmas Day are observed as closed holidays by the museum.

You will surely live to visit the museum for its historical importance and experiencing past era realistically. IMAX will give a life time adventurous experience to your kids. GO! Enjoy it!