Toronto 
Overview
About Royal Ontario Museum
Royal Ontario Museum was established on April 16, 1912 and was governed by University of Toronto and the Government of Ontario until 1968, when it became independent agency of the government of Ontario.
Since the founding of the ROM, the Museum has continually added to its holdings of artifacts and specimens through acquisitions, donations and fieldwork. The Museum’s diverse collections contain approximately six million objects.
The ground floor houses galleries devoted to World Cultures. It prominently features the ROM’s two galleries of Canada and a suite of Asian galleries. ROM’s Natural History galleries that are filled with inspiring objects depicting the Earth’s rich diversity are at level 2. Level 3 and 4 house galleries of
World Cultures related to West Asia, Egypt, Textiles, Europe, Greece and Rome, New World Archaeology, and Ethnology. Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume is at Level 5.
What to Do at Royal Ontario Museum?
Things to Do at Royal Ontario Museum
- Travel around the world’s cultures through the galleries devoted to World Cultures.
- Learn about Totem Poles and marvel at the art works on the four totem poles, made of western red cedar, carved by the Nis_ga’a and Haida of the Pacific Northwest Coast.
- Discover over 1,000 diverse artifacts providing a cultural context for Canada’s earliest societies and reveal the economic and social forces that influenced First Peoples art at Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada:First Peoples
- Learn about symbols, emblems and images of Canada, including Benjamin West’s historical painting The Death of General Wolfe. Explore modern Canadian furniture and decorative arts at Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada.
- See outstanding Chinese collection, ranked among the world’s best outside China that includes more than 2000 objects spanning 7,000 years of Chinese history, ranging from beautifully painted prehistoric ceramic jars to elaborate 18th-century furniture at Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of China.
- Get to know important collections of Chinese temple art in the world including the Paradise of Maitreya, one of the most well-preserved Yuan dynasty temple wall paintings at Bishop White Gallery of Chinese Temple Art.
- See large sculptures in stone, bronze, iron, ceramic, and wood spanning 2,000 years of Chinese sculptural art and the development of Judaism, Islam and Christianity in China from the 3rd to 19th
centuries AD at Matthews Family Court of Chinese Sculpture. - Explore Tomb Mound of General Zu Dashou (“Ming Tomb”), the defender of the Ming dynasty at ROM Gallery of Chinese Architecture.
- Marvel at the collection of tea objects drawn from the Yamagami collection, the most complete
tea master’s set in any North American museum and other Japanese art collections at Japanese art collections at Prince Takamado Gallery of Japan. - Checkout the only permanent gallery of Korean art in Canada.
- See display of the rare White Rhino at the entrance to the Schad Gallery of Biodiversity. More than a thousand specimens are presented in the gallery.
- Explore Schad Gallery of Biodiversity with kids. The Gallery illustrates the interconnections of
species and habitats. Learn about the coral reef through an aquarium home to live fish and invertebrates, walk below displays of shark models and migratory birds, and learn about global warming in the Arctic. - Examine eggs, feathers and nests at Gallery of Birds. See at the large display showcasing diverse species of birds together in flight that includes a albatross with a nine-foot wingspan to a tiny little hummingbird.
- Brave the Bat Cave that is home to bats, spiders, snakes and other creatures of the night. The ROM has more than 35,000 bat specimens in its collections.
- Touch skin, skulls, and other animal specimens at Patrick and Barbara Keenan Family
Gallery of Hands-on Biodiversity. - Marvel at ROM’s exceptional specimens of minerals, gems, meteorites and rocks, including a giant 900 carat cerussite gem and the world’s largest faceted cerussite, the Tagish Lake Meteorite (containing some of the oldest and most primitive organic material dating back to the formation of our solar system) at Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth’s Treasures.
- Let your big bundle of joy discover the world at CIBC Discovery Gallery. This interactive space is filled with touchable artifacts and real specimens and includes a special area for pre-schoolers, with puzzles, toys and costumes to try on.
- Enter the Jurassic World at James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs. See “Gordo” the 90-foot-long Barosaurus, and the most complete example of the duck-billed hadrosaur.
- Identify the 30 complete skeletons of extinct mammals at Gallery of the Age of Mammals.
- Decipher the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead at Galleries of Africa: Egypt. Also see a variety of mummies — human and animal and other Egyptian artifacts, exploring nearly 5,000 years (4000 BC – AD 400) of Egyptian history including Bust of Cleopatra VII, a rare Ptolemaic granite bust and Statue of Sekhmet, a magnificent example of Pharaonic sculpture.
- Learn about ancient Nubian civilization that flourished in the Nile Valley.
- See over 100 artifacts describing the rise and enigmatic fall of Greek civilizations from the Cyclades islands, Crete and mainland Greece at Gallery of the Bronze Age Aegean.
- Walk amongst marble sculptures, beautiful terracotta figurines, black-figure and red-figure vases at Gallery of Greece.
- Zip past 1000 years of history through Republican and Imperial Rome at Eaton Gallery of Rome and Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of Rome and the Near East.
- Live through the fall of the classical Roman Empire and the Medieval Crusades, to its final conquest by the Ottoman Turks atJoey and Toby Tanenbaum Gallery of Byzantium.
- Know artistic and cultural traditions of South Asia through Asian religious objects and
sculpture, decorative arts, and textiles, originating from countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet at Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery. - Examine the artifacts at the Ajmera Gallery that presents the artistic and cultural traditions of indigenous peoples from Africa, the American continents and the Asia-Pacific region, including Oceania.
- Do you think you can move wearing the chain mail or other 15th century armours displayed at Samuel European Galleries?
- See Outstanding examples include Chinese imperial costume, late Antique and early Islamic textiles from Egypt, western fashion from the Baroque period to the present day and early Canadian textiles at Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles & Costume.
- Join for guided tour of the ROM’s galleries led by experienced educators.
- Enhance your knowledge by joining for special programs that are made for adults, kids and the whole family – Kid’s Day Camp, Family Fundays, and sleepovers.
- Join for a night of drinks, food, and live music during Friday Night Live.
- Explore travelling exhibitions that focuses on art, animals, history, lifestyle, the earth, different places and cultures and so much more.
ROM also organises free walking tours around Toronto neighbourhoods, bus tours to places with historic interest places in Toronto and surrounding areas, talks on a variety of subjects, and day camps, March Break, Summer Break Camps and other programs! You can also rent the venue for private events.
When to visit Royal Ontario Museum?
Hours
The Museum is open 364 days a year except for December 25.
Regular Hours of Operation
Open Tuesday – Sunday: 10:00 am to 5:30 pm
Closed Mondays
Open on Statutory Holidays
Time required to visit:
3 hrs or more, depending on interest
How much will it cost to visit Royal Ontario Museum?
Adult General Admission: $26 & up
Child General Admission: $16 & up
Senior General Admission: $21 & up
Studen/Youth General Admission: $20 & up
admission to special exhibitions extra
Extra for special exhibitions.
How to get tickets?
Online / At the Door
How to get to Royal Ontario Museum?
Address
100 Queen’s Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6
Lat: 43.6684081123 Lon: -79.3950639839
Get Directions from Your Location
Parking: Paid Parking at 9 Bedford Road – North of Bloor Street, west of Avenue Road and has automated entry and exit gates. ~ $6 – $13 and at 37 Yorkville Ave.
Public Transit Accessible
What about amenities and accessibility?
Accessibility
Wheel chair accessible – Manual wheelchairs are available at the museum for free.
Partner of the Access 2 Entertainment Program. Free admission for support person.
Service animals allowed
Amenities
Wash rooms/ family friendly – Washrooms are located conveniently at all levels of the museum.
Druxy’s ROM Café- salads, sandwiches, and other fast food items.
Gift Shop – ROM Boutique offers unique items that visitors can take home as a souvenir.