The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) opened on March 19, 1914. As Canada's largest and most comprehensive museum, ROM houses 13 million world-class artworks, artifacts and natural history specimens, with 40 galleries and exhibition spaces showcasing art, culture and nature from around the world and across the ages. The museum was managed by the University of Toronto until 1955 and became an independent institution starting 1968.
The museum has been expanded three times in its history. The original building was designed by famous Toronto architects Frank Darling and John A Pearson, and its architectural style was Italian Neo-Romanesque. The museum’s first expansion was in 1933, the east entrance was added at that time. The museum's original building and this expansion were listed as a Toronto Historic Building in 1973.
The second expansion took place between 1978 and 1984. During that period, ROM started its free outdoor ROMWalks. On Wednesdays and Sundays in the summer, guides from ROM lead tourists touring Toronto for 2.5 hours, free of charge, and no reservations are required. ROM kept this program after the expansion and has been doing so for more than 40 years!
The third time was between 2002 and 2007, when a crystal structure designed by Daniel Libeskind was added to and named after Michael Lee-Chin, a donor who donated CAD 30 million. This expansion cost a total of 270 million Canadian dollars, and the federal and provincial governments funded 60 million! The museum is currently undergoing its fourth renovation. Some galleries or exhibits are closed. I hope that the renovation will be completed soon and there will be more exhibition space.
Not only the outside, but also the inside of the museum is constantly innovating. For example, in 2023, a new area called WonderWorks was opened on the second floor, which has a variety of toys for adults and children.
There is a popular saying in ROM: If you have not been to ROM recently, then you haven’t been to ROM.