After a thorough analysis of some of the best museums in Sydney, Australia and subsequently in Melbourne, we thought it would make judicious sense to let the theme play out a little more. Thus, today we repeat the trend in Canada, where two star destinations mimic the vast metropolis of Sydney and proximate “second city” status of Melbourne. Of course, we mean Toronto, financial capital of Canada, and Montreal, the cool, culinary, cosmopolitan and cultural hub of the country.
Like Sydney and Melbourne, there is no shortage of friendly and not-so friendly competition between the two. Certainly on the ice, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens form the most bitter rivalry in the entire NHL, despite the fact that the former have not won a Stanley cup since 1967. Non-francophone Montreal residents who chose not to leave amid political turmoil in the 1970′s and the election of a Quebec separatist party still deride those who left to seek “better fortunes” in what they consider to be bland and “all work and no play” Toronto. Residents of “Hogtown” on the other hand, are proud to have left Montreal in the dust, at least in population terms and economic clout. (Privately however, they admit that Montreal is more fun and has much more attractive women.)
With all that in mind, both Toronto and Montreal offer boundless appeal to visitors from abroad. Here are eight great museums in the capital of the province of Ontario, with a similar installment in mind next time for the veritable jewel of La Belle Province.
The ROM is the premier museum in all of Canada and certainly one of the leaders in the spheres of natural history and anthropology in all of North America. The sheer size of the museum alone ranks it among the top in the entire continent, with over six million objects to peruse in some forty odd exhibition spaces.
Even if you know zilch about Canada’s de facto national sport (sorry lacrosse) and think Wayne Gretzky is a Nobel laureate in chemistry, the Hockey Hall of Fame is a phenomenal interactive museum that pays tribute to the game with utmost reverence. Montrealers, the most passionate and knowledgeable fans of hockey, still claim that the Hall belongs in their city.
In the Toronto tradition that more is more, the Art Gallery of Ontario is a behemoth of a museum. One of the most vast in North America, the gallery has a superb collection of art from the dawn of the first century AD to the present day. With over 68,000 works in total, there is special emphasis on Canadian works, although masters like Picasso, Rodin, Van Gogh and Warhol can be found.
A short drive or subway ride northeast of downtown Toronto, the Ontario Science Centre has been one of the most popular museums in the city since 1969. Clearly influenced by San Francisco’s world class Exploratorium, the OSC has sought since day one to educate via interactive and tactile exhibits.
The wonderfully odd Gardiner Museum won an architecture award in 2006 after an extensive facelift. The inside of this museum however, conveniently located near the subway station Museum, is just as great. The facility is matchless in Canada, as the only museum completely devoted to the art of ceramics.
Thomas J. Bata is a legend in Canada, as the pioneer behind the global footwear company that bears his name. On his travels around the world on business and pleasure, his wife Sonja built up a grand collection of shoes native to each country. They now, along with other terrific exhibits and presentations, have a home at the Bata Shoe Museum in downtown Toronto.
Established in Montreal in 1854 by captain of industry John Redpath, the Canada Sugar Refining Company quickly struck gold. Later, as Redpath Sugar, it became a global brand. Today, the Redpath Sugar Museum in Toronto, housed in a massive old refinery, chronicles the textured history of the cane trade from the Caribbean and the manufacturing of sugar.
Founded in 1975, the Textile Museum of Canada is still the only facility in the country solely devoted to cloths and fabrics, with over 12,000 samples that date back as far as the first century AD.
