A Perfect Blend of Fun, Excitement and Knowledge
Visit the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) and you’ll explore awe-inspiring collection of artifacts and objects comprising – art, world cultures, natural history, sciences and much more.
You can also enjoy top-quality special exhibitions and events that are offered regularly.
With an enormous and diverse collection of more than 6 million items from mysterious bats to scary dinosaurs, from magnificent jewellery to fascinating gems and from vibrant First Peoples paintings to impressive Buddhist sculptures, the Royal Ontario Museum is Canada’s premier museum of world culture and natural history.
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The ROM offers great learning curve with lots of fun and entertainment. In fact, there is something for everyone, including the kids. If you plan to visit just one museum in Toronto, without any hesitation, it should be the Royal Ontario Museum.
Since its opening in 1914, the Royal Ontario Museum has become the largest museum of its kind in Canada and attracts more than one million visitors every year.
Originally built under heavy influence of Neo-Romanesque architectural style, the ROM has gone several major expansions and renovations since its inception.
The latest one is an eye-catching Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the glass and aluminum clad crystal prisms are jutted in such a way that the entire ultra-modern structure offers distinct and wonderful outlook to visitors.
With the new Crystal superimposed immaculately on the old historic building, you will find this fabulous hybrid structure itself worth a visit.
Without further ado, let’s check out various galleries displaying an attractive array of artifacts and specimens.
Royal Ontario Museum – Galleries and Exhibits
The objects and specimens are carefully classified and neatly displayed along with interesting and informative details in more than 40 galleries.
The 40+ themed galleries in the ROM are divided into two main categories of galleries – the World Culture Galleries and the Natural History Galleries. Also, there are several unique Hands-on Galleries featuring interactive exhibits.
1. Royal Ontario Museum – World Culture Galleries
The dynamic and versatile Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples features more than 1000 objects showcasing native and modern artworks, native culture and history of Canada’s First People.
You will find extraordinary glimpse of Canada’s First Peoples in the largest collection of Paul Kane’s paintings and sketches.
The gallery has a theatre featuring films, interactive programs and live performances, and a large changing exhibition space for contemporary native artworks.
The Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada reflects the history of European settlement through a variety of artifacts including paintings, portraits, furniture, ceramic and glass items. Highlights of the gallery include the historical painting of The Death of General Wolfe by Benjamin West and a 19th-century wine cellaret.
The Royal Ontario Museum is home to the best and biggest collection of Chinese architectural artifacts outside of China.
Purchase a Toronto CityPASS and visit 5 high-flying Toronto attractions for one low-price! Avoid most ticket lines! Save time and money. Valid for 9 days.
Includes admission tickets to the CN Tower, Casa Loma, Ontario Science Centre, Royal Ontario Museum and Toronto Zoo. For more detail, visit Toronto CityPASS
The Bishop White Gallery of Chinese Temple Art showcases impressive collection of Chinese temple art with three of the world’s best preserved Yuan Dynasty wall paintings and several ornately painted wooden sculptures.
Check out just about 2,500 outstanding objects and artifacts spanning almost 7,000 years of Chinese history at the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China. This large gallery features amazing collection of bronze vessels, objects in gold, glass, jade, and silver, ceramic jars, paintings and furniture.
The Matthews Family Court of Chinese Sculpture gallery offers an amazing array of huge sculptures in stone, bronze, iron, ceramic, and wood.
The ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture is North America’s first gallery of Chinese architecture. In this spectacular gallery, you will find some of the museum’s magnificent showpieces, including the iconic Ming Tomb, a corner of a Chinese Imperial Palace building and the Tombs of Han and Tang.
The Gallery of Korea takes you back to the 3rd century. The only permanent Korean art gallery in Canada presents great opportunity to appreciate ancient culture and rich history of Korea. Here you will find a great variety of ceramics, metalwork, paintings, printing skills, decorative arts, Buddhist art, and furniture.
Explore the largest collection of Japanese art in Canada at the Prince Takamado Gallery of Japan. The gallery exhibits amazing array of Japanese ceramics, porcelain, religious sculpture, tea ceremony objects, prints, paintings, lacquers, armour, swords, sword ornaments and earthenware.
Spanning 4,000 BC to AD 400, the Galleries of Africa: Egypt offers great perspective of ancient Egypt culture and history. The granite bust of Cleopatra and the Statue of Sekhmet known as “Mistress of Dread” and “Lady of Slaughter” are the highlights of this stunning gallery.
Here you will discover a vast and impressive collection of artifacts including agricultural equipments, cosmetics, fabulous jewellery, funerary furnishings, utensils and much more. The gallery also features a collection of finely-painted mummy masks.
Appreciate the magnificent and diverse history of the South Asian sub-continent through stunning collection of religious objects and sculpture, decorative arts, arms and armour, sculpture, textiles, miniature paintings and textiles at the extended Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery.
The Gallery of the Bronze Age Aegean features almost 200 objects from the Cycladic, Minoan, Mycenaean and Geometric periods of Ancient Greece, dating from about 3000 to 700 BC, unfolding the fascinating chronicle of this ancient empire.
Samuel European galleries showcase decorative arts of western and central Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. The collection comprises of large variety of ceramics, metalwork, costumes, glass work, furniture, sculptures and much more. Special collections on display include Judaica, Art Deco and the perennial favourite-arms and armour.
One more striking compilation is presented at the Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles and Costume. The gallery showcases the extensive transformations in textile design and technology throughout the past three thousand years.
Enjoy the multifaceted collection of costume and fabrics, including Chinese imperial court, early Islamic textiles, European fashion from the 18th century to the present and early Canadian textiles.
Other notable world culture galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum include the Wirth Gallery of the Middle East, the the Gallery of Greece and the Shreyas and Mina Ajmera Gallery of Africa, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. These galleries show local cultures and history of the respective regions through impressively large collection of art and craft objects.
2. Royal Ontario Museum – Natural History Galleries
If you love watching the epic Jurassic Park sequel, you will surely be thrilled by the impressive, world-famous collection of dinosaurs at the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs.
Travel back to 200 million years ago into the Jurassic and the Cretaceous period and check out fascinating dinosaur skeletons, fossil birds, mammals and insects in the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Here you will find hundreds of specimens of giant Barosaurus, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Deinonychus, Parasaurolophus and Maiasaura. And what is more exciting is that many of the species on display are real fossil skeletons! What a thrill!
You can also have the benefit of interactive touch-screen stations and series of short educational videos to learn more about the dinosaurs and other creatures.
The Reed Gallery of the Age of Mammals in the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal depicts the evolution theory after the extinction of dinosaurs. From rise of mammals through the Ice Age to present day biodiversity, the gallery offers amazing insight into every aspect of development.
You will find an extraordinary and unusual array of North and South American specimens, including several large fossil skeletons of extinct mammals, several non-mammalian specimens and hundreds of fossils representing insects, corals, fish, turtles and plants.
Inspired by the St. Clair Cave in Jamaica, the Royal Ontario Museum’s Bat Cave is very popular among children and youth. The recently renovated Bat Cave is now bigger and scarier. The simulated and atmospheric sights and sounds inside the Bat Cave offer spine-chilling experience. And the audio-visual show offers great understanding about these mysterious creatures of the night.
With a mission to educate and raise awareness of the major challenges facing the conservation, diversity and survival of life on the planet, the Life in Crisis: Schad Gallery of Biodiversity provides a unique platform to build relationship between nature and humanity.
On display are some of the endangered and extinct species, including specimens of a giant panda, a polar bear, a rhinoceros, a Narwhal whale, a live coral reef, turtles, fishes, world’s largest flower Rafflesia and many more.
Check out educational shows and workshops at the state-of-the-art Earth Rangers Studio in this gallery.
The Gallery of Birds features hundreds of species of birds in flight – from a large Royal albatross to a tiny hummingbird. Check out the pull-out drawers for closer examination of eggs, feathers, nests and footprints of birds.
Do you like shiny stones and gems? Diamonds, sapphires and rubies? Then visit Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth’s Treasures. You will be mesmerised by one of the best collections of precious gems and stones, exceptional mineral and rock specimens all at one place.
The spacious gallery is divided into the Vale Inco Limited Gallery of Minerals, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery and the Gallery of Gems and Gold. Highlights of the gallery include a gigantic 900 carat, world’s largest faceted cerussite gem and a rare meteorite from the time of formation of our solar system.
3. Royal Ontario Museum – Hands-on Galleries
The CIBC Discovery Gallery allows you to experience hands-on interaction with artifacts under supervision of experienced gallery facilitators.
You can touch, hold and even smell variety of objects from the art, world cultures and natural history collections. Undeniably, the major attraction is the Dinosaur dig where you can dig for dinosaur bones and can touch a real Hadrosaur leg bone.
The Patrick and Barbara Keenan Family Gallery of Hands-on Biodiversity features an array of interactive exhibits and specimens and allows you to explore and examine the vast diversity of life on the earth.
Shopping and Dining at the Royal Ontario Museum
Matching with its magnificent collection of artifacts and specimens, the ROM offers equally wonderful shopping experience.
The ROM museum store offers an assortment of books, stationary, CDs and DVDs, artwork, statues, home decor, t-shirts and much more. Grab a perfect souvenir of your visit, which will keep the magical memories of the museum always intact.
The ROMkids Store features some of most bizarre and breathtaking stuff for kids including toys, game, books and special ROM t-shirts.
The Royal Ontario Museum offers two restaurants to relax and refuel. c5 Restaurant Lounge, located at the 5th level of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, offers exquisite dining experience in an elegant environment. If you prefer light food, the Food Studio Cafe presents healthy food like freshly made salads, pizza and pasta in a casual and friendly atmosphere.
Royal Ontario Museum – Important Tips
- No food or beverages are allowed in the museum galleries.
- The Royal Ontario Museum is one of the best and biggest Toronto attractions. You can easily spend 4-5 hours or even an entire day to explore the museum.
- The Royal Ontario Museum is a year round attraction and a perfect spot to spend an afternoon on a rainy day or even a freezing day in winter.
- If convenient, you can take advantage of the half price admission offer on Fridays starting at 4:30 pm. On Fridays, the museum closes at 9.30 pm, allowing you enough time to explore it for half price admission. However, half price admission applies to same-day onsite ticket purchases after 4:30 pm only.
- Admission to the ROM is free on Wednesdays from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
A day at the museum is a unique way to learn about diverse flora and fauna and history of mankind with lots of fun and entertainment. For the remarkable treasures it holds, the Royal Ontario Museum is a must for any museum aficionado.
Royal Ontario Museum – Tourist Information
Location: 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, M5S 2C6
Phone: 416-586-8000
Hours of Operation:
Monday to Thursday: 10 am – 5:30 pm
Friday: 10 am – 9:30 pm
Saturday and Sunday: 10 am – 5:30 pm
The Royal Ontario Museum is open every day of the week throughout the year including all public holidays, except December 25 (Christmas Day).
Best time to visit: Throughout the year
Time to spend: 4-5 hours
Price:
Child 3 and under: Free
Child (4-14 years): $16
Adult (15-64 years): $24
Seniors (65+ years, with ID): $21
Students (15-17 years, with ID): $21
Please note that no additional taxes apply to above price.
Tickets are available at the admission’s desk.
Or Skip the long lines at the admission’s desk and purchase the tickets online at http://www.rom.on.ca/visit/index.php. A small service charge of $2 will be added to each ticket purchased online.
Money-spinning Tip: Buy the Toronto CityPass, which includes admission to Royal Ontario Museum. With Toronto CityPass, you can skip long lines and save nearly 50% on regular admission prices to top Toronto attractions such as CN Tower, Toronto Zoo, Casa Loma and Ontario Science Centre. Discover more about easy-to-use, deeply discounted Toronto CityPass ticket booklet
Payment Method: Cash, Debit Card, Credit Card (Visa, American Express, Master Card, Diners Club)
Transit and Driving Directions:
TTC:
The St. George stop on the Bloor-Danforth subway line is closest to the ROM’s main entrance on Bloor Street West. The President’s Choice School Entrance is located at the Museum stop on the Yonge-University-Spadina subway line.
Visitors can also take the Avenue Road Bus #5 south from the Eglinton subway station. The 142 routes use accessible buses and runs north and south with stops at Queen’s Park in front of the Weston Wing.
Driving Directions:
From the West – Take Highway 401 E into Toronto and exit at Avenue Road (Exit 367). Continue south on Avenue Road until you reach Bloor Street West. You will find the museum right on the southwest corner of Bloor Street W. and Queen’s Park.
From the East – Take Highway 401 W into Toronto and exit at Don Valley Parkway. Then take Bloor Street exit and continue on Bloor Street West until you reach Avenue Road/Queen’s Park. The Museum is on the southwest corner of Bloor Street W. and Queen’s Park.
From the South – Take QEW/Gardiner Expressway E into Toronto. Take the Spadina Avenue exit. Continue on Spadina Avenue until you reach the Bloor Street West. Proceed east on Bloor until you reach Avenue Road/Queen’s Park. The Royal Ontario Museum is on the southwest corner of Bloor Street W. and Queen’s Park.
From the North – Take Highway 400 into Toronto, exiting onto Highway 401 East. On Highway 401 E, exit at Avenue Road (Exit 367). Continue south on Avenue Road until you reach Bloor Street West.
Parking: Royal Ontario Museum doesn’t have onsite parking for visitors. However, there are several paid parking lots within walking distance of the Museum.
For more information visit www.rom.on.ca