Best Museums and Art Galleries (Self Guided), Victoria

A National Historic Site of Canada, the Emily Carr House was the childhood home of Canadian painter Emily Carr and had a lasting impression on her paintings and writings.

The house passed through the Carr family for several years, before being sold to a private owner for use as a rental property. The building was extensively modernized following a fire in 1938. In 1964, MP David Groos saved the building from demolition and turned it over to the Emily Carr Foundation three years later, for use as an art gallery and school known as the Emily Carr Arts Centre. In 1976, the provincial government purchased the property and helped return the building to its original condition.

The building was extensively restored by two different architects, undoing many of the additions and modernizations that had been added to the house since the 19th century. It is currently an interpretive centre for Carr's art, writings and life.

Why You Should Visit:
Charming and very nostalgic place that definitely gives you a glimpse into history.
There are many of Carr's writings on display, together with some reproductions of her art.
The gardens are beautifully maintained and there's a small gift shop where good books about her life and her art are available.

Tip:
Along the way, you may see many fine examples of older Victorian and craftsman style homes, many of them with very nice gardens.

Opening Hours:
Tue-Sat: 11am-4pm

Founded in 1886, the Royal British Columbia Museum consists of The Province of British Columbia's natural and human history museum as well as the British Columbia Provincial Archives. The "Royal" title was approved by Queen Elizabeth II and bestowed by HRH Prince Philip in 1987, to coincide with a Royal tour of that year.

It includes three permanent galleries: natural history, modern history, and local First Nations’ history. The museum’s collections comprise approximately 7 million objects, including natural history specimens, artifacts, and archival records.

The natural history collections have 750,000 records of specimens almost exclusively from BC and neighbouring states, provinces, or territories. The collections are divided into eight disciplines: Entomology, Botany, Palaeontology, Ichthyology, Invertebrate Zoology, Herpetology, Mammalogy, and Ornithology.

The museum also hosts touring exhibitions. Previous exhibitions have included artifacts related to the RMS Titanic, Leonardo da Vinci, Egyptian artifacts, the Vikings, the British Columbia gold rushes and Genghis Khan. The Royal BC Museum partners with and houses the IMAX Victoria theater, which shows educational films as well as commercial entertainment.

Why You Should Visit:
The main museum in Victoria, BC. Huge section of anthropology, nice section on natural history and geology of Vancouver Island, but the most amazing is the one dedicated to an incredible reconstruction of entire sections of the city of Victoria during different historical periods.

Tip:
Don't skip the outdoor section on the side of the main entrance. You can visit one of the original houses of the first big settlement in Victoria, totems, and a First Nation chief house, in a very nice and quiet setting. Otherwise, plan at least 3 hours to enjoy all the exhibitions (permanent and temporary).

Opening Hours:
Daily: 10am-5pm

Miniature World is an amazing museum and one of its kind. Animation, lighting and sound effects enhance more than 85 highly detailed miniature scenes. Displays include a circus, one of the world's largest doll houses, a Swiss Family Robinson tree house, Jack and the Beanstalk and a futuristic space diorama. Scenes illustrate historic battles, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, "Gulliver's Travels" and novels by Charles Dickens. The Great Canadian Railway exhibit re-creates rail transportation in the late 19th-century Canada.

Tip:
Take your time and press the display buttons. You will watch trains, plane propellers, cars, a trolley, a castle door, goldfish, double-decker buses, a waterwheel (etc.) move within the dioramas.

Opening Hours:
Summer Hours: 9am-9pm; Winter-Spring: 9am-5pm

The Maritime Museum of BC (MMBC) engages people with the maritime culture and history of the Pacific Northwest through rotating exhibits, educational and community-based programs, research services, and more.

Its rich collection of some 35,000 artefacts includes 800 models of ships and items related to the maritime heritage of BC. There is a reference library of 6,000 volumes including a collection of 200 titles of historical significance, an archival collection of records of local ship-owning and shipbuilding firms, logbooks, naval records, ships' plans of 1800 vessels, maps and charts, an art collection, and approximately 36,000 photographs. The collection also includes three historic small vessels: ''Tilikum'' (boat), the 38-foot (11.6m) modified aboriginal cedar canoe sailed westabout from Vancouver Island starting in 1901 to London, UK; Trekka, a 20.5-foot (6.2m) sailboat sailed around the world by her Victoria builder starting in 1954 – at the time the smallest yacht to have circumnavigated the globe; and Dorothy, a locally built 1897 fantail cutter currently under restoration.

Why You Should Visit:
Small museum that doesn't feel overwhelming; instead, much of its story-telling is through videos and interactive components.

Tip:
Visit the media room and if you have the time for the "Around the Horn" narrated documentary it is well worth the price of admission.

Opening Hours:
Daily: 10am-5pm

The Mark Loria Gallery exhibits tribal art and is one of the most visited art museums in Victoria city. Here, you can see the fine art of the Pacific Northwest and the tribal art of the South Pacific. All the coastal tribes are represented in Mark Loria's collection as also some fine tribal art form Papua New Guinea.
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 11 am - 6pm.

Open Space is a non-profit organization that has been supporting contemporary artists, whose work is experimental and innovative, since 1976. It is an exhibition and performance centre and a working laboratory for contemporary artists.
Opening hours: Tuesday–Saturday: Noon–5:00 p.m.