The empire state’s museum in Albany is a program by the University of the State of New York relying completely on donations to operate, which means it’s free. The museum is a horseshoe loop around the first floor of the building, the floors upstairs are occupied by the state archive Read more
Bombardier makes planes in Toronto, Ski-Doos in Valcourt, and train parts in Kingston. The Bombardier Museum in Valcourt, Quebec, is Canada’s version of the Henry Ford Museum of Innovation in Detroit. Visitors start by watching two 15-minute long videos that introduce the life of Joseph Armand Bombardier and the company’s Read more
In a small retail space in Waterloo‘s Conestoga Mall lives the City of Waterloo Museum. It’s the first museum I’ve been to that doesn’t have a permanent exhibition, the temporary exhibition changes every couple of months to keep things fresh. I visited during the space exhibit about how astronauts live Read more
It’s more a showroom for contemporary Canadian glass work and less a story of Canadian kilns. The only thing historic about the place is the little dioramas of kilns from around the world. I wish there was more to it; being able to see glass being blown, peek inside an Read more
My visit to the textile museum was brief so I wouldn’t get ticketed for parking overtime in downtown Toronto. It’s nearby the Campbell House Museum so the two make a good geographical pairing. The main exhibition area showed Inuit textile art, something I found quintessentially Canadian. The gallery that shares Read more
Its been half a decade since my first visit to the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. I came by bus last time, but even though I drove this time I still had to transfer onto a shuttle bus to the rear entrance. I didn’t enjoy seeing the exhibits in reverse. Read more
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto is Canada’s largest museum dedicated to Muslim culture. Photography isn’t permitted in most of the museum, so I can’t show you ancient Quran manuscripts or the 16th century marble fountain. The only gallery where photography is permitted is the ceramics showcase. Islam is present Read more
Perhaps the smallest museum in Toronto, but not the least interesting (that award goes to the Toronto Police Museum). The Toronto Railway Museum makes its home in a railroad roundhouse shared with restaurants and bars. The roundhouse used to serve nearby Union Station, it’s an excellent example of adaptive reuse Read more
While all the nice national museums are in Ottawa, the nice provincial museums are up to just as high a standard in Toronto. The ROM is the biggest brother of the provincial museums in the city. Spanning three maze-like floors, the museum tells the story of Earth from the age Read more
Anyone who has loved the Corning Museum of Glass in New York has to pop up to Toronto for the Gardiner Museum of ceramics. It displays ceramicware from all over the world throughout all periods of human history. Porcelain was a luxury item during the 17th and 18th centuries and Read more