Museum of Anthropology

So I went to visit the Museum of Anthropology last month for the Hiroshima exhibit, but I forget how truly breathtaking this museum can be. Housed up at UBC, the building itself is gorgeous - designed by Arthur Erickson. There are some new wings added on, which allows them to display more of their artifacts as well as be home to traveling exhibits.

I would highly recommend taking the free guided tour, as you will learn quite a bit about the artifacts on display there. I learned the differences between the types of carvings and totem poles done by three different tribes. The tour is informative, interesting, and educational.

This is a definite stop for you if you are a visitor to Vancouver and interested in museums and history. For Vancouverites, if you haven't come out here in awhile or at all, then do yourself a favour and visit!

While you're up at UBC, why not walk around the campus and take in the energy and atmosphere of this institution? There's also the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, only a ten minute walk away from the Museum of Anthropology. Housed there is a huge skeleton of a Blue Whale that washed up on the shores of Eastern Canada in the 80s. Well worth checking that out too!

First Nations art isn't the only thing you can find here at the Museum of Anthropology. There's also an entire wing dedicated to what the tour guide told us was North America's finest collection of ceramics.

If you don't live in Vancouver and won't be visiting Vancouver anytime soon, you can always check out their online catalogue. In fact, the tour guide told us that this gives you an even closer look at their objects, as the website allows you to zoom right in for a more intimate exploration.