127-670: The Royal Ontario Museum ( ROM ) is a museum of art, world culture and natural history in Toronto , Ontario , Canada. It is one of the largest museums in North America and the largest in Canada. It attracts more than one million visitors every year, making it the most-visited museum in Canada . It is north of Queen's Park , in the University of Toronto district, with its main entrance on Bloor Street West . Museum subway station
254-535: A Governor-General's Award in Architecture . In 1989, activists complained about its Into the Heart of Africa exhibit, which featured stereotypes of Africans, forcing curator Jeanne Cannizzo to resign. Beginning in 2002, the museum underwent a major renovation and expansion project dubbed as Renaissance ROM. The Ontario and Canadian governments, both supporters of this venture, contributed $ 60 million toward
381-481: A coelacanth , a Rafflesia flower and many other rare species. Included among these specimens is Bull , a southern white rhinoceros that became a famous conservation success story for his species. There are also recently extinct species displayed, including specimens of a passenger pigeon and a great auk , as well as skeletons of a dodo and a moa with a specimen of a moa egg, an elephant bird egg, and many other recently extinct species. The gallery presents
508-755: A capital. In 1787, the British Lord Dorchester arranged for the Toronto Purchase with the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, thereby securing more than a quarter of a million acres (1000 km ) of land in the Toronto area. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto. The first 25 years after the Toronto purchase were quiet, although "there were occasional independent fur traders" present in
635-657: A channel to the harbour. The peninsula was formed by longshore drift taking the sediments deposited along the Scarborough Bluffs shore and transporting them to the Islands area. The other source of sediment for the Port Lands wetland and the peninsula was the deposition of the Don River, which carved a wide valley through the sedimentary land of Toronto and deposited it in the shallow harbour. The harbour and
762-547: A dynamic, immersive experience with three core themes that hopefully will make a lasting impression on visitors." The Tallgrass Prairies and Savannas is a part of the gallery that features one of the most endangered and diverse habitats in Ontario. The display features examples of the regions and the efforts by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry to maintain and restore
889-412: A fine note in the one part of the building which the architect could decorate without conflicting with the exhibits. The original building and the 1933 expansion have been listed since 1973 as heritage buildings of Toronto. In 2005, a major renovation of the heritage wings saw the galleries made larger, windows uncovered, and the original early 20th-century architecture made more prominent. The exteriors of
1016-505: A fun and interactive space. People of all ages can explore touchable specimens and interactive displays while gallery facilitators help visitors discover the living world around them. Mossy frogs, a touchable shark jaw, snakeskin, and a replica fox's den are some of the objects that connect young visitors to the diversity and interdependence of plants and animals. The Roloff Beny Gallery of the Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) hosts
1143-623: A part of the university until 1968, when the museum and the McLaughlin Planetarium were separated from the university to form a new corporation. On 26 October 1968, the ROM opened the McLaughlin Planetarium on the south end of the property after receiving a CA$ 2 million donation from Colonel Samuel McLaughlin . In December 1995, the ROM closed the McLaughlin Planetarium as a result of budgetary cutbacks imposed by
1270-820: A pathway for pedestrians to travel safely across the Crystal. The building's design is similar to some of Libeskind's other works, notably the Jewish Museum in Berlin , the London Metropolitan University Graduate Centre and the Fredric C. Hamilton Building at the Denver Art Museum. The steel framework was manufactured and assembled by Walters Inc. of Hamilton, Ontario . The extruded anodized aluminum cladding
1397-660: A period of months. The first phase of the Renaissance ROM project, the "Ten Renovated Galleries in the Historic Buildings", opened to the public on 26 December 2005. The architectural opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal took place less than 18 months later, on 2 June 2007. The final cost of the project was about CA$ 270 million. The original building was listed by the City of Toronto on
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#17327734089301524-594: A ravine or valley and continue on the other side. Toronto has many bridges spanning the ravines. Large bridges such as the Prince Edward Viaduct were built to span broad river valleys. Despite its deep ravines, Toronto is not remarkably hilly, but its elevation does increase steadily away from the lake. Elevation differences range from 76.5 metres (251 ft) above sea level at the Lake Ontario shore to 209 m (686 ft) above sea level near
1651-583: A temporary exhibit at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Ontario , Canada. From 1998 to 2002, the museum operated in the former location of the McLaughlin Planetarium . In ,the COM changed its name to the Children's Own Media Museum, developing content for schools and cultural centres across Ontario. The museum is led by Museum Director Che Marville and McLuhan Scholar Dr. Robert Logan. Currently
1778-430: A whole. The Patricia Harris Gallery of Costumes and Textiles holds about 200 artifacts from the ROM's textile and costume collections. These pieces, which range from the 1st century BC to the present day, are rotated frequently due to their fragility. Throughout time, textiles and fashion have been used to establish identity and allow inferences to be drawn about a culture's social customs, economy and survival. The gallery
1905-556: A wide variety of objects from around the world. These range from Stone Age implements from China and Africa to 20th-century art and design. In July 2011, the museum added to this collection when a number of new permanent galleries were unveiled. Both the Government of Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum committed $ 2.75 million toward the project. The galleries are located on the first, third and fourth levels of
2032-454: Is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canada's major national broadcast networks and media outlets . Its varied cultural institutions , which include numerous museums and galleries , festivals and public events , entertainment districts, national historic sites , and sports activities , attract over 43 million tourists each year. Toronto
2159-493: Is an exhibition space on Level 1, connecting the east wing of the museum with its western half. The gallery serves as the building's main lobby past the museum's admission area. As opposed to most galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum, the Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery is not dedicated to a single subject. Instead, the gallery exhibits an assortment of items from the museum's collection representing them as
2286-507: Is devoted to showcasing transformations in textile design, manufacturing, and cultural relevance throughout the ages. Weaving, needlework, printed archeological textiles and silks are all located in this space. The CIBC Discovery Gallery was designed to be a children's learning zone until its closure in 2023. It housed three main areas: In the Earth, Around the World and Close to Home. The space
2413-517: Is its escarpments. During the last ice age , the lower part of Toronto was beneath Glacial Lake Iroquois . Today, a series of escarpments mark the lake's former boundary, known as the "Iroquois Shoreline". The escarpments are most prominent from Victoria Park Avenue to the mouth of Highland Creek , where they form the Scarborough Bluffs . Other observable sections include the area near St. Clair Avenue West between Bathurst Street and
2540-675: Is known for its many skyscrapers and high-rise buildings , in particular the CN Tower , the tallest freestanding structure on land outside of Asia. The city is home to the Toronto Stock Exchange , the headquarters of Canada's five largest banks , and the headquarters of many large Canadian and multinational corporations. Its economy is highly diversified with strengths in technology, design, financial services, life sciences, education, arts, fashion, aerospace, environmental innovation, food services, and tourism. Toronto
2667-484: Is named after it and, since a 2008 renovation, is decorated to resemble the ROM's collection at the platform level; Museum station's northwestern entrance directly serves the museum. Established on April 16, 1912, and opened on March 19, 1914, the ROM has maintained close relations with the University of Toronto throughout its history, often sharing expertise and resources. It was under direct control and management of
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#17327734089302794-588: Is now a museum. The pre-amalgamation City of Toronto covers the downtown core and older neighbourhoods to the east, west, and north. It is the most densely populated part of the city. The Financial District contains the First Canadian Place , Toronto-Dominion Centre , Scotia Plaza , Royal Bank Plaza , Commerce Court and Brookfield Place . This area includes, among others, the neighbourhoods of St. James Town , Garden District , St. Lawrence , Corktown , and Church and Wellesley . From that point,
2921-514: Is the third-largest tech hub in North America after Silicon Valley and New York City , and the fastest-growing hub. The word Toronto has been recorded with various spellings in French and English, including Tarento , Tarontha , Taronto , Toranto , Torento , Toronto , and Toronton . The most frequent early spelling, Taronto , referred to 'The Narrows', a channel of water through which Lake Simcoe discharges into Lake Couchiching where
3048-400: The 2026 FIFA World Cup . Toronto covers an area of 630 square kilometres (243 sq mi), with a maximum north–south distance of 21 kilometres (13 mi). It has a maximum east–west distance of 43 km (27 mi), and it has a 46-kilometre (29 mi) long waterfront shoreline, on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario . The Toronto Islands and Port Lands extend out into
3175-719: The Burgess Shale in British Columbia and Mistaken Point in Newfoundland and Labrador. The gallery is divided into six sections: "A Very Long Beginning" ( Precambrian ), "The Origin of Animals" ( Cambrian Explosion ), "The Bustling Seas" ( Ordovician , Silurian , and Devonian ), "The Green Earth" (Devonian and Carboniferous , including both the Mississippian and the Pennsylvanian), "Before
3302-465: The Great Depression , an effort was made to use primarily local building materials and to make use of workers capable of manually excavating the building's foundations. Teams of workers alternated weeks of service due to the physically draining nature of the job. In 1947, the ROM was dissolved as a body corporate , with all assets transferred to the University of Toronto. The museum remained
3429-589: The Great Irish Famine ; most of them were Catholic . By 1851, the Irish-born population had become the largest single ethnic group in the city. The Scottish and English population welcomed smaller numbers of Protestant Irish immigrants, some from what is now Northern Ireland, which gave the Orange Order significant and long-lasting influence over Toronto society. Almost every mayor of Toronto
3556-516: The Greater Toronto Area proper had a 2021 population of 6,712,341. Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, sports, and culture and is one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world. Indigenous peoples have travelled through and inhabited the Toronto area, located on a broad sloping plateau interspersed with rivers, deep ravines, and urban forest , for more than 10,000 years. After
3683-652: The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for using so-called "starchitecture" to attract tourism. The main lobby is a three-storey high atrium, named the Hyacinth Gloria Chen Crystal Court. The lobby is overlooked by balconies and flanked by the J. P. Driscoll Family Stair of Wonders and the Spirit House, an interstitial space formed by the intersection of the east and west crystals. Installation of the permanent galleries of
3810-645: The Mississaugas had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars , with most returning to their homeland in present-day New York state. French traders founded Fort Rouillé in 1750 (the current Exhibition grounds were later developed there), but abandoned it in 1759 during the Seven Years' War . The British defeated the French and their indigenous allies in
3937-482: The Toronto Carrying-Place Trail , led to widespread use of the name. The pronunciation of the city is broadly / t ə ˈ r ɒ n t oʊ / tə- RONT -oh , which locals pronounce [təˈɹɒnoʊ] or [ˈtɹɒnoʊ] , leaving the second 't' silent. The site of Toronto lay at the entrance to one of the oldest routes to the northwest, a route known and used by
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4064-602: The York University grounds in the city's north end at the intersection of Keele Street and Steeles Avenue. There are occasional hilly areas; in particular, midtown Toronto , as well as the Silverthorn and Fairbank neighbourhoods, have several sharply sloping hills. Lake Ontario remains occasionally visible from the peaks of these ridges as far north as Eglinton Avenue, 7 to 8 kilometres (4.3 to 5.0 mi) inland. The other major geographical feature of Toronto
4191-556: The 19th century, the city built an extensive sewage system to improve sanitation, and streets were illuminated with gas lighting as a regular service. Long-distance railway lines were constructed, including a route completed in 1854 linking Toronto with the Upper Great Lakes. The Grand Trunk Railway and the Northern Railway of Canada joined in the building of the first Union Station in downtown. The advent of
4318-501: The 2000s, many neighbourhoods became ethnically diverse and underwent gentrification due to increasing population and a housing boom during the late 1990s and the early 21st century. The first neighbourhoods affected were Leaside and North Toronto , gradually progressing into the western neighbourhoods in York. Children%27s Own Museum The Children's Own Museum originally opened in 1997 as
4445-550: The Children's Own Museum and the McLuhan Legacy Network, a group set up to promote the works of visionary Canadian icon Marshall McLuhan ." References [ edit ] ^ "Toronto museum is open to children's imagination" , Kitchener Record , December 10, 1998 (pay site). ^ Mary Gordon, "High rents close museum where kids learned for fun" , Toronto Star , August 28, 2002 (pay site). ^ "Children's Own Museum Takes Flight at
4572-578: The City of Toronto in 1834. Toronto hosted the 4th G20 summit during June 26–27, 2010. This included the largest security operation in Canadian history. Following large-scale protests and rioting, law enforcement arrested more than 1,000 people, the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. On July 8, 2013, severe flash flooding hit Toronto after an afternoon of slow-moving, intense thunderstorms. Toronto Hydro estimated 450,000 people were without power after
4699-487: The Don River, and north of Davenport Road from Caledonia to Spadina Road ; the Casa Loma grounds sit above this escarpment. The geography of the lakeshore has dramatically changed since the first settlement of Toronto. Much of the land on the harbour's north shore is landfill, filled in during the late 19th century. Until then, the lakefront docks (then known as wharves) were set back farther inland than today. Much of
4826-559: The Government of Ontario. The space temporarily reopened from 1998 to 2002, after being leased to Children's Own Museum . In 2009, the ROM sold the building to the University of Toronto for CA$ 22 million and ensured that it would continue to be used for institutional and academic purposes. The second major addition to the museum was the Queen Elizabeth II Terrace Galleries on the north side of
4953-659: The Great Dying" ( Permian ) and "Dawn of a New Era" (Triassic). Notable specimens include the Burgess Shale , orthocones and sea scorpions and other fossils from Ontario and the holotype of Dimetrodon borealis . The ROM also has a Zuul crurivastator skeleton from the Judith River Formation in Montana in its dinosaur collection, which is one of the most complete examples of an ankylosaurid specimen ever found. The world culture galleries display
5080-729: The Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. This narrows was called tkaronto by the Mohawk , meaning 'where there are trees standing in the water', and was recorded as early as 1615 by Samuel de Champlain . The word Toronto , meaning 'plenty', also appears in a 1632 French lexicon of the Huron language , which is also an Iroquoian language. It also appears on French maps referring to various locations, including Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe, and several rivers. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, known as
5207-593: The Huron, Iroquois, and Ojibwe . Archaeological sites show evidence of human occupation dating back thousands of years. The site was of strategic importance from the beginning of Ontario's recorded history. In the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon (Bead Hill) on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagon on the banks of the Humber River . By 1701,
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5334-628: The Lee-Chin Crystal began mid-June 2007, after a ten-day period when all the empty gallery spaces were open to the public. Within the Crystal there is a gift shop, C5 restaurant lounge (closed until further notice), a cafeteria, seven additional galleries and Canada's largest temporary exhibition hall in a museum. The galleries added to the Crystal gave different aspects to the ROM: fascinating visuals, architectural artifacts and environment, art, correspondence between object and space and stories within
5461-469: The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The structure was created by architect Daniel Libeskind , whose design was selected from among 50 finalists in an international competition. The design of the Crystal required the Terrace Galleries to be torn down (the curatorial centre to the south remains). Existing galleries and buildings were also upgraded, along with the installation of multiple new exhibits over
5588-651: The Municipal Heritage Register on 20 June 1973, designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 2003, with a Heritage Easement on the buildings. Much of the museum's Bloor Street–facing side is being renovated since February 2024, as well as correcting architectural deficiencies to the Crystal while respecting Libeskind's original architectural design. Renovations include an expanded skylight to provide more natural lighting to its atrium, as well as an additional staircase within
5715-695: The Progressive Conservatives' majority. North York mayor Mel Lastman became the first "megacity" mayor, and the 62nd mayor of Toronto, with his electoral victory . Lastman gained national attention after multiple snowstorms, including the January Blizzard of 1999 , dumped 118 centimetres (46 in) of snow and effectively immobilized the city. He called in the Canadian Army to aid snow removal by use of their equipment to augment police and emergency services. The move
5842-400: The ROM, one each for the fields of archaeology , geology , mineralogy , paleontology and zoology . In general, the museum pieces were labelled and arranged in a static fashion that had changed little since Edwardian times . For example, the insects' exhibit that lasted up until the 1970s housed a variety of specimens from different parts of the world in long rows of glass cases. Insects of
5969-799: The Royal Ontario Museum's contemporary art exhibitions. This high-ceilinged multimedia gallery of approximately 6,000 sq ft (600 m) serves as the ICC's main exhibition space, typically featuring exhibits that tie in contemporary culture and events, with the museum's natural and world collection. The gallery has featured exhibitions on fashion photography, street art, modern Chinese urban design and architecture, and contemporary Japanese art. In 2018, it exhibited Here We Are: Black Canadian Contemporary Art , featuring Black Canadian artists such as Sandra Brewster , Michèle Pearson Clarke , Sylvia D. Hamilton , Bushra Junaid , Charmaine Lurch , and Esmaa Mohamoud . The natural history galleries are all gathered on
6096-968: The Teck Suite of Galleries include the Barrick Gold Corporation Gallery, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame Gallery, the Gallery of Gems and Gold and the Vale Gallery of Minerals. The Reed Gallery of the Age of Mammals explores the rise of mammals through the Cenozoic Era that followed the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs . There are over 400 specimens from North America and South America in addition to 30 fossil skeletons of extinct mammals. The gallery's entrance begins with mammals that arose shortly after
6223-552: The Toronto Harbour), and the Rouge River at the city's eastern limits. Most of the ravines and valley lands in Toronto today are parklands and recreational trails are laid out along the ravines and valleys. The original town was laid out in a grid plan on the flat plain north of the harbour, and this plan was extended outwards as the city grew. The width and depth of several of the ravines and valleys are such that several grid streets, such as Finch Avenue , Leslie Street , Lawrence Avenue , and St. Clair Avenue , terminate on one side of
6350-622: The Toronto skyline extends northward along Yonge Street. Old Toronto is also home to many historically wealthy residential enclaves, such as Yorkville , Rosedale, The Annex, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park , Lytton Park , Deer Park , Moore Park , and Casa Loma, most stretching away from downtown to the north. East and west of downtown, neighbourhoods such as Kensington Market , Chinatown , Leslieville , Cabbagetown and Riverdale are home to bustling commercial and cultural areas as well as communities of artists with studio lofts, with many middle- and upper-class professionals. Other neighbourhoods in
6477-562: The University of Toronto until 1968, when it became an independent Crown agency of the Government of Ontario . It is Canada's largest field-research institution, with research and conservation activities worldwide. With more than 18 million items and 40 galleries, the museum's diverse collections of world culture and natural history contribute to its international reputation. It contains a collection of dinosaurs , minerals and meteorites; Canadian and European historical artifacts; as well as African , Near Eastern , and East Asian art. It houses
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#17327734089306604-474: The West. Like the Irish before them, many of these migrants lived in overcrowded shanty-type slums, such as " the Ward ", which was centred on Bay Street , now the heart of the country's Financial District . As new migrants began to prosper, they moved to better housing in other areas, in what is now understood to be succession waves of settlement. Despite its fast-paced growth, by the 1920s, Toronto's population and economic importance in Canada remained second to
6731-405: The adjacent Port Lands on the harbour's east side was a wetland filled in early in the 20th century. The shoreline from the harbour west to the Humber River has been extended into the lake. Further west, landfill has been used to create extensions of land such as Humber Bay Park. The Toronto Islands were a natural peninsula until a storm in 1858 severed their connection to the mainland, creating
6858-404: The architectural elements—the deep cornice, decorative top, eave brackets—add to this strength that the ROM possessed, as it was purely a structure with the function of collecting, but not of exhibiting. During the mid-2010s, the eastern entrance was used as a café. Since late 2017, the eastern entrance is undergoing renovation to become an alternate entrance, complete with the addition of ramps to
6985-405: The architecture of its homes, and for being one of Toronto's earliest planned communities, was designated as an Ontario Heritage Conservation district in 1985. The Casa Loma neighbourhood is named after "Casa Loma", a castle built in 1911 by Sir Henry Pellat , complete with gardens, turrets, stables, an elevator, secret passages, and a bowling alley. Spadina House is a 19th-century manor that
7112-423: The area, with the usual complaints of debauchery and drunkenness. In 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany . Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) to York, believing the new site would be less vulnerable to attack by the United States. The York garrison
7239-553: The atrium, as well as the reconstruction of the entrance plaza to be level to allow for street performances. Designed by Toronto architects Frank Darling and John A. Pearson , the architectural style of the original building (now the western wing) is a synthesis of Italianate and Neo-Romanesque . The structure is heavily massed and punctuated by rounded and segmented arched windows with heavy surrounds and hood mouldings. Other features include applied decorative eave brackets, quoins and cornices . The eastern wing facing Queen's Park
7366-408: The bat cave reopened on 27 February 2010 after extensive renovations. The 1,700-square-foot (160 m) exhibit most notably includes a recreation of St. Clair Cave located in Saint Catherine Parish of central Jamaica. The original cave was formed by an underground river that flowed 30 metres (98 ft) below ground through the limestone and was three kilometres long. This cave was then recreated in
7493-413: The broadly disputed Toronto Purchase , when the Mississauga surrendered the area to the British Crown , the British established the town of York in 1793 and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada . During the War of 1812 , the town was the site of the Battle of York and suffered heavy damage by American troops . York was renamed and incorporated in 1834 as the city of Toronto . It
7620-468: The building and a curatorial centre built on the south, which started in 1978 and was completed in 1984. The new construction meant that a former outdoor "Chinese Garden" to the north of the building facing Bloor, along with an adjoining indoor restaurant, had to be dismantled. Opened in 1984 by Queen Elizabeth II , the CA$ 55 million expansion took the form of layered terraces, each rising layer stepping back from Bloor Street. The design of this expansion won
7747-423: The building is a surprise and a pleasant one; the somewhat complicated ornament of the façade is forgotten and a plan on the grand manner unfolds itself. It is simple, direct and big in scale. One is convinced that the early Beaux-Arts training of the designer has not been in vain. The outstanding feature of the interior is the glass mosaic ceiling of the entrance rotunda. It is executed in colours and gold and strikes
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#17327734089307874-481: The capital until 1865 (two years before Canadian Confederation). Since then, the capital of Canada has remained Ottawa , Ontario. Toronto became the capital of the province of Ontario after its official creation in 1867. The seat of government of the Ontario briefly returned to the same building that hosted the Third Parliament Building of Upper Canada, before moving to the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in 1893. Because of its provincial capital status,
8001-617: The central city retain an ethnic identity, including two smaller Chinatowns, the Greektown area, Little Italy , Portugal Village , and Little India , among others. The inner suburbs are contained within the former municipalities of York and East York. These are mature and traditionally working-class areas, consisting primarily of post–World War I small, single-family homes and small apartment blocks. Neighbourhoods such as Crescent Town , Thorncliffe Park , Flemingdon Park , Weston, and Oakwood Village consist mainly of high-rise apartments, which are home to many new immigrant families. During
8128-407: The channel of the Don River have been dredged numerous times for shipping. The lower section of the Don River was straightened and channelled in the 19th century. The former mouth drained into a wetland; today, the Don River drains into the harbour through a concrete waterway, the Keating Channel . To mitigate flooding in the area, as well as to create parkland, a second more natural mouth was built to
8255-527: The city granted the operation of the transit franchise to the Toronto Railway Company . The public transit system passed into public ownership in 1921 as the Toronto Transportation Commission , later renamed the Toronto Transit Commission . The system now has the third-highest ridership of any city public transportation system in North America . The Great Toronto Fire of 1904 destroyed a large section of downtown Toronto . The fire destroyed more than 100 buildings. The fire claimed one victim, John Croft, who
8382-471: The city was also the location of Government House , the residence of the viceregal representative of the Crown in right of Ontario . Long before the Royal Military College of Canada was established in 1876, supporters of the concept proposed military colleges in Canada. Staffed by British Regulars, adult male students underwent a three-month-long military course at the School of Military Instruction in Toronto. Established by Militia General Order in 1864,
8509-414: The city was hit by a massive blackout which affected millions of Torontonians (it also affected most of Southern Ontario and parts of the United States), stranding some hundreds of people in tall buildings, knocking out traffic lights and suspending subway and streetcar service across the city during those aforementioned days. On March 6, 2009, the city celebrated the 175th anniversary of its inception as
8636-449: The city, there exist hundreds of small neighbourhoods and some larger neighbourhoods covering a few square kilometres. The many residential communities of Toronto express a character distinct from the skyscrapers in the commercial core. Victorian and Edwardian-era residential buildings can be found in enclaves such as Rosedale , Cabbagetown , The Annex , and Yorkville . The Wychwood Park neighbourhood, historically significant for
8763-422: The conservation of Earth's biodiversity . The Life in Crisis gallery is organized into three zones exploring the central themes: Life is Diverse, Life is interconnected, and Life is at Risk. Anthony Reich, principal at Reich+Petch, called biodiversity "a big subject that's become more relevant to everybody. The challenge was how to tell this big story in a 10,000-square-foot (900 m) space. We decided to design
8890-405: The eastern entrance. The eastern entrance is a few steps from the main entrance to Museum station . Designed by Toronto architect Gene Kinoshita, with Mathers & Haldenby, the curatorial centre forms the southern section of the museum. Completed in 1984, it was built during the same expansion as the former Queen Elizabeth II Terrace Galleries, which stood on the north side of the museum before
9017-523: The elimination of racially based immigration policies by the late 1960s, Toronto became a destination for immigrants from all over the world. By the 1980s, Toronto had surpassed Montreal as Canada's most populous city and chief economic hub. During this time, in part owing to the political uncertainty raised by the resurgence of the Quebec sovereignty movement , many national and multinational corporations moved their head offices from Montreal to Toronto and Western Canadian cities. On January 1, 1998, Toronto
9144-592: The exhibit is Gordo , one of the most complete examples of the Barosaurus in North America and the largest dinosaur on display in Canada. The Willner Madge Gallery, Dawn of Life opened in 2021 in the former Peter F. Bronfman Hall, and focuses on the evolution of life in the Paleozoic from billions of years ago up to the Late Triassic . It highlights many fossil sites and collections from Canada, such as
9271-617: The experience of walking through a cave as a colony of bats fly out. The original galleries were simply named after their subject material, but in more recent years, individual galleries have been named in honour of sponsors who have donated significant funds or collections to the institution. There are now two main categories of galleries present in the ROM: the Natural History Galleries and the World Culture Galleries. The Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery
9398-428: The extinction of the woolly mammoth , offering several different leading theories on the issue for the visitor to ponder. This trend continued and up until the present day, the galleries became less staid and more dynamic or descriptive and interpretive. This trend arguably came to a culmination in the 1980s with the opening of The Bat Cave , where a sound system, strobe lights and gentle puffs of air attempts to recreate
9525-474: The extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. A highlight of this gallery is the sabre-toothed nimravid Dinictis . The James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs and Gallery of the Age of Mammals feature many examples of complete non-avian dinosaur skeletons, as well as those of early birds, reptiles, mammals and marine animals ranging from the Jurassic to Cretaceous periods. The highlight of
9652-562: The façade also contains elements of Gothic Revival in its relief carvings, gargoyles and statues. The ornate ceiling of the rotunda is covered predominantly in gold back painted glass mosaic tiles, with coloured mosaic geometric patterns and images of real and mythical animals. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1933, A. S. Mathers said of the expansion: The interior of
9779-698: The first mayor of Toronto . Mackenzie would later lead the unsuccessful Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837 against the British colonial government. Toronto's population of 9,000 included some African-American slaves, some of whom had been brought by the Loyalists, and Black Loyalists , whom the Crown had freed (most of the latter were resettled in Nova Scotia). By 1834, refugee slaves from America's South were also immigrating to Toronto to gain freedom. Slavery
9906-433: The first phase of a two-part construction plan intended to expand toward Queen's Park Crescent, ultimately creating an H-shaped structure. The first expansion to the Royal Ontario Museum publicly opened on October 12, 1933. The CA$ 1.8 -million renovation saw the construction of the east wing fronting onto Queen's Park and required the demolition of Argyle House, a Victorian mansion at 100 Queen's Park. As this occurred during
10033-479: The formation of dangerous snow loads on the structure, past architectural creations of Daniel Libeskind (including the Denver Art Museum) have also suffered from weather-related complications. Collections at the ROM not displayed at the ROM itself or in other museums are stored in various unclassified and offsite locations around the Greater Toronto Area . Originally, there were five major galleries at
10160-496: The heritage buildings were cleaned and restored. The restoration of the 1914 and 1933 buildings was the largest heritage project undertaken in Canada. The renovation also included the newly restored Rotunda with reproductions of the original oak doors, a restored axial view from the Rotunda west through to windows onto Philosophers' Walk and ten renovated galleries comprising a total of 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq ft). In
10287-680: The hurricane caused more than CA$ 25 million in damage. In 1967, the seven smallest municipalities of Metropolitan Toronto were merged with larger neighbours, resulting in a six-municipality configuration that included the former city of Toronto and the surrounding municipalities of East York , Etobicoke , North York , Scarborough , and York . In the decades after World War II, refugees from war-torn Europe and Chinese job-seekers arrived, as well as construction labourers, particularly from Italy and Portugal. Toronto's population grew to more than one million in 1951 when large-scale suburbanization began and doubled to two million by 1971. Following
10414-400: The lake, allowing for a somewhat sheltered Toronto Harbour south of the downtown core. An Outer Harbour was constructed southeast of downtown during the 1950s and 1960s, and it is now used for recreation. The city's limits are formed by Lake Ontario to the south, the western boundary of Marie Curtis Park , Etobicoke Creek , Eglinton Avenue and Highway 427 to the west, Steeles Avenue to
10541-511: The late Louise Hawley Stone, who donated a number of artifacts and various collections to the museum. In her will, she transferred C$ 49.7 million to the Louise Hawley Stone Charitable Trust, created to help with the upkeep of the building and to the acquisition of new artifacts. Replacing the Queen Elizabeth II Terrace Galleries was the controversial "Michael Lee-Chin Crystal", a multimillion-dollar expansion to
10668-409: The majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, over 160 languages are spoken in the city. The mayor of Toronto is elected by direct popular vote to serve as the chief executive of the city. The Toronto City Council is a unicameral legislative body, comprising 25 councillors since the 2018 municipal election , representing geographical wards throughout the city. Toronto
10795-419: The master plan designed by Darling and Pearson in 1909, the ROM took a form similar to that of J. N. L. Durand's ideal model of the museum. It was envisioned as a square plan with corridors running through the centre of the composition, converging in the middle with a domed rotunda. Overall, it referenced the upper-class palaces of the 17th and 18th centuries and aimed at having a strong sense of monumentality. All
10922-468: The merits of its angular design. On its opening, Globe and Mail architecture critic Lisa Rochon complained that "the new ROM rages at the world", was oppressive, angsty and hellish, while others—perhaps championed by her Toronto Star counterpart, Christopher Hume—hailed it as a monument. Some critics have ranked it as one of the ten ugliest buildings in the world. The project also experienced budget and construction time over-runs, and drew comparisons to
11049-515: The much longer established Montreal , Quebec. However, by 1934, the Toronto Stock Exchange had become the largest in the country. In 1954, the City of Toronto and 12 surrounding municipalities were federated into a regional government known as Metropolitan Toronto . The postwar boom had resulted in rapid suburban development. It was believed a coordinated land-use strategy and shared services would provide greater efficiency for
11176-468: The museum based on ROM fieldwork conducted in Jamaica in 1984. A large amount of bat research has been conducted with support from the ROM. In 2011, the ROM hosted a "bat workshop" connected with the 41st Annual North American Symposium on Bat Research. The Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth's Treasures features almost 3,000 specimens of minerals, gems, meteorites and rocks ranging from 4.5 billion years ago to
11303-429: The museum designed by Daniel Libeskind , including a new sliding door entrance on Bloor Street, first opened in 2007. The Deconstructivist crystalline form is clad in 25 percent glass and 75 percent aluminum , sitting on top of a steel frame . The Crystal's canted walls do not touch the sides of the existing heritage buildings but are used to close the envelope between the new form and existing walls. These walls act as
11430-479: The museum has no permanent facility and is seeking a new home, but has continued to operate special interactive workshops and programs, such as the 2012/2013 Family Programming at Harbourfront and 2009 program at the CN Tower . An October 2011 article at the Toronto Star ' s ParentCentral.ca website reported on a planned new venture called the Children's Mobile Media Museum, described as "a collaboration between
11557-521: The museum. Toronto Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario . With a population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the fourth-most populous city in North America . The city is the anchor of the Golden Horseshoe , an urban agglomeration of 9,765,188 people (as of 2021) surrounding the western end of Lake Ontario , while
11684-523: The need to protect the natural environment and the need to educate the public about the main causes of extinction —overhunting, habitat destruction , and climate change . In September 2009, the gallery received an Award of Excellence by the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario . In addition to showcasing the museum's natural collection, the Schad Gallery also aims to promote
11811-628: The north and the Rouge River and the Scarborough–Pickering Townline to the east. The city is mostly flat or gentle hills, and the land gently slopes upward away from the lake. The flat land is interrupted by the Toronto ravine system , which is cut by numerous creeks and rivers of the Toronto waterway system , most notably the Humber River in the west end, the Don River east of downtown (these two rivers flanking and defining
11938-480: The passenger pigeon. These exhibits were later moved to the Schad Gallery. The Royal Ontario Museum purchased a beached blue whale off the coast of Newfoundland at Trout River and displayed its skeleton and heart as a ROM-original travelling exhibit until 4 September 2017. The Bat Cave is an immersive experience for visitors that presents over 20 bats and 800 models in a recreated habitat, with accompanying educational panels and video. Originally opened in 1988,
12065-520: The present. These items were found in many different locations including the Earth, Moon and beyond, and represent the Earth's dynamic geological environment. Notable specimens at the Teck Suite of Galleries include fragments of the Tagish Lake meteorite . The Light of the Desert , the world's largest faceted cerussite , is another notable piece displayed in the gallery. Galleries that are a part of
12192-399: The project, and Michael Lee-Chin donated $ 30 million. The campaign aimed not only to raise annual visitor attendance from 750,000 to between 1.4 and 1.6 million, but also to generate additional funding opportunities to support the museum's research, conservation, galleries and educational public programs. The centrepiece of the project was a deconstructivist crystalline-form structure called
12319-465: The railway dramatically increased the numbers of immigrants arriving, commerce and industry, as had the Lake Ontario steamers and schooners entering port before. These enabled Toronto to become a major gateway linking the world to the interior of the North American continent. Expanding port and rail facilities brought in northern timber for export and imported Pennsylvania coal. Industry dominated
12446-514: The referendum results and did so in April when it tabled the City of Toronto Act . Both opposition parties held a filibuster in the provincial legislature, proposing more than 12,000 amendments that allowed residents on streets of the proposed megacity to take part in public hearings on the merger and adding historical designations to the streets. This only delayed the bill's inevitable passage, given
12573-468: The region. The metropolitan government began to manage services that crossed municipal boundaries, including highways, police services, water and public transit . In that year, a half-century after the Great Fire of 1904, disaster struck the city again when Hurricane Hazel brought intense winds and flash flooding. In the Toronto area, 81 people were killed, nearly 1,900 families were left homeless, and
12700-470: The same genus were pinned to the inside of the cabinet, with only the species name and location found as a description. By the 1960s, more interpretive displays were ushered in, among the first being the original dinosaur gallery, established in the mid-1960s. Dinosaur fossils were now staged in dynamic poses against backdrop paintings and models of contemporaneous landscapes and vegetation. The displays became more descriptive and interpretive sometimes, as with
12827-490: The school enabled officers of militia or candidates for commission or promotion in the Militia to learn military duties, drill and discipline, to command a company at Battalion Drill, to drill a company at Company Drill, the internal economy of a company, and the duties of a company's officer. The school was retained at Confederation, in 1867. In 1868, Schools of cavalry and artillery instruction were formed in Toronto. In
12954-473: The second floor of the museum, containing collections and examples of various specimens such as bats, birds and dinosaurs. The Life in Crisis: Schad Gallery of Biodiversity, designed by Reich+Petch and opened in late 2009, features endangered species , including specimens of a polar bear , a giant panda , a white rhinoceros , a Burmese python , Canadian coral , a leatherback sea turtle ,
13081-553: The south during the first half of the 2020s, thereby creating a new island, Ookwemin Minising . Toronto encompasses an area formerly administered by several separate municipalities that were amalgamated over the years. Each developed a distinct history and identity over the years, and their names remain in common use among Torontonians. Former municipalities include East York, Etobicoke, Forest Hill , Mimico , North York, Parkdale , Scarborough, Swansea , Weston and York. Throughout
13208-409: The storm and Toronto Pearson International Airport reported 126 mm (5 in) of rain had fallen over five hours, more than during Hurricane Hazel. Within six months, from December 20 to 22, 2013, Toronto was brought to a near halt by the worst ice storm in the city's history, rivalling the severity of the 1998 Ice Storm (which mainly affected southeastern Ontario, and Quebec). At the height of
13335-575: The storm, over 300,000 Toronto Hydro customers had no electricity or heating. Toronto hosted WorldPride in June 2014, and the Pan and Parapan American Games in 2015 . The city continues to grow and attract immigrants. A 2019 study by Toronto Metropolitan University (then known as Ryerson University) showed that Toronto was the fastest-growing city in North America. The city added 77,435 people between July 2017 and July 2018. The Toronto metropolitan area
13462-571: The tallgrass prairies and savannas. The Gallery of Birds has on display many bird specimens from past centuries. The Gallery of Birds is dominated by the broad "Birds in flight" display where stuffed birds are enclosed in a glass display for visitors to experience. Dioramas allow visitors to learn about the many bird species and how environmental and habitual changes have put bird species in danger of extinction. Pull-out drawers let visitors examine eggs, feathers, footprints and nests more closely. The gallery included exhibits of other extinct species such as
13589-426: The terrace galleries were replaced with the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The architecture is a simple modernist style of poured concrete, glass, and pre-cast concrete and aggregate panels. The curatorial centre houses the museum's administrative and curatorial services and provides storage for artifacts that are not on exhibit. In 2006, the curatorial centre was renamed to Louise Hawley Stone Curatorial Centre in honour of
13716-467: The town's surrender. American soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation. Because of the sacking of York, British troops retaliated later in the war with the burning of Washington, D.C. York was incorporated as the City of Toronto on March 6, 1834, adopting the Indigenous name. Reformist politician William Lyon Mackenzie became
13843-656: The university and the Ontario Department of Education , coming from its predecessor, the Museum of Natural History and Fine Arts at the Toronto Normal School . On 19 March 1914, the Duke of Connaught , also the governor general of Canada , officially opened the Royal Ontario Museum to the public. The museum's location at the edge of Toronto's built-up area, far from the city's central business district ,
13970-405: The visuals. The C5 restaurant Lounge is designed by IV Design Associated Inc. In October 2007, the Lee-Chin Crystal was reported to have suffered from significant water leakage, causing concerns for the building's resilience to weather, especially in the face of the new structure's proximate first winter. Although a two-layer cladding system was incorporated into the design of the Crystal to prevent
14097-616: The war, and the area became part of the British colony of Quebec in 1763. During the American Revolutionary War , an influx of British settlers arrived there as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario. The Crown granted them land to compensate for their losses in the Thirteen Colonies. The new province of Upper Canada was being created and needed
14224-645: The waterfront for the next 100 years. During the late 19th century, Toronto became the largest alcohol distillation (in particular, spirits ) centre in North America. By the 1860s, the Gooderham and Worts Distillery operations became the world's largest whisky factory. A preserved section of this once dominant local industry remains in the Distillery District . The harbour allowed access to grain and sugar imports used in processing. Horse-drawn streetcars gave way to electric streetcars in 1891 when
14351-465: The world's largest collection of fossils from the Burgess Shale in British Columbia with more than 150,000 specimens. The museum also contains an extensive collection of design and fine art, including clothing, interior, and product design, especially Art Deco . The Royal Ontario Museum was formally established on April 16, 1912, and was jointly governed by the Government of Ontario and the University of Toronto . Its first assets were transferred from
14478-524: Was a member of the Orange Order between 1850 and 1950, and the city was sometimes referred to as the " Belfast of Canada" because of Orange influence in municipal politics and administration. For brief periods, Toronto was twice the capital of the united Province of Canada : first from 1849 to 1851, following unrest in Montreal, and later from 1855 to 1859. After this date, Quebec was designated as
14605-469: Was an explosive expert clearing the ruins from the fire. It caused CA$ 10,387,000 in damage (roughly CA$ 277,600,000 in 2020 terms). The city received new European immigrant groups from the late 19th century into the early 20th century, particularly Germans, French, Italians, and Jews. They were soon followed by Russians, Poles, and other Eastern European nations, in addition to the Chinese entering from
14732-600: Was banned outright in Upper Canada (and throughout the British Empire) in 1834. Torontonians integrated people of colour into their society. In the 1840s, an eating house at Frederick and King Streets, a place of mercantile prosperity in the early city, was operated by a black man named Bloxom. As a major destination for immigrants to Canada, the city grew rapidly through the remainder of the 19th century. The first significant wave of immigrants were Irish, fleeing
14859-535: Was built at the entrance of the town's natural harbour, sheltered by a long sand-bar peninsula. The town's settlement formed at the harbour's eastern end behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street and Front Street (in the " Old Town " area). In 1813, as part of the War of 1812 , the Battle of York ended in the town's capture and plunder by United States forces. John Strachan negotiated
14986-484: Was built in a neo-Byzantine style with rusticated stone, triple windows contained within recessed arches and different-coloured stones arranged in a variety of patterns. This development from the Roman-inspired Italianate to a Byzantine-influenced style reflected the historical development of Byzantine architecture from Roman architecture . Common among neo- Byzantine buildings in North America,
15113-535: Was designated as the capital of the province of Ontario in 1867 during Canadian Confederation . The city proper has since expanded past its original limits through both annexation and amalgamation to its current area of 630.2 km (243.3 sq mi). The diverse population of Toronto reflects its current and historical role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada . About half of its residents were born outside of Canada and over 200 ethnic origins are represented among its inhabitants. While
15240-470: Was designed by Alfred H. Chapman and James Oxley . Opened in 1933, it included the museum's elaborate art deco , Byzantine-inspired rotunda and a new main entrance. The linking wing and rear (west) façade of the Queen's Park wing were originally done in the same yellow brick as the 1914 building, with minor Italianate detailing. This façade broke away from the heavy Italianate style of the original structure. It
15367-511: Was fabricated by Josef Gartner in Germany , the only company in the world that can produce the material. The company also provided the titanium cladding for Frank Gehry 's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao , Spain . On 1 June 2007, the governor-general of Canada, Michaëlle Jean , attended the Crystal's architectural opening. This caused controversy because public opinion had been divided concerning
15494-515: Was greatly enlarged, not through traditional annexations , but as an amalgamation of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto and its six lower-tier constituent municipalities: East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, York, and the original city itself. They were dissolved by an act of the Government of Ontario and formed into a single-tier City of Toronto (colloquially dubbed the " megacity "), replacing all six governments. The merger
15621-433: Was inspired by the ROM's collections and enabled children to participate in interactive activities involving touchable artifacts and specimens, costumes, digging for dinosaur bones and examining fossils and meteorites. There was also a special area for preschoolers. The Patrick and Barbara Keenan Family Gallery of Hands-On Biodiversity introduces visitors to the complicated relationships, which occur among all living things in
15748-551: Was proposed as a cost-saving measure by the Progressive Conservative provincial government under premier Mike Harris . The announcement touched off vociferous public objections. In March 1997, a referendum in all six municipalities produced a vote of more than 3:1 against amalgamation. However, municipal governments in Canada are creatures of the provincial governments, and referendums have little to no legal effect. The Harris government could thus legally ignore
15875-408: Was ridiculed by some in other parts of the country, fuelled in part by what was perceived as a frivolous use of resources. The city attracted international attention in 2003 when it became the centre of a major SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak. Public health attempts to prevent the disease from spreading elsewhere temporarily dampened the local economy. From August 14 to 17, 2003,
16002-401: Was selected mainly for its proximity to the University of Toronto. The original building was constructed on the western edge of the property along the university's Philosopher's Walk , with its main entrance facing out onto Bloor Street housing five separate museums of the following fields: Archaeology, Palaeontology, Mineralogy, Zoology, and Geology. It cost CA$ 400,000 to construct. This was
16129-613: Was the second-fastest-growing metropolitan area in North America, adding 125,298 persons, compared with 131,767 in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metroplex in Texas. The large growth in the Toronto metropolitan area is attributed to international migration to Toronto. The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada first occurred in Toronto and was among the hotspots in the country . Toronto was named as one of 16 cities in North America (and one of two Canadian cities) to host matches for
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