Galati Travels: museum

While you may love Vancouver for its nature and temperate weather, you can also hate it for its rain that can spoil plans to explore the outdoors. In that case, it's best to check out some museums, because who doesn't like history?

So here is a list of the museums to check out in the area:

Museum of Surrey – the museum at 17710 56a Avenue in Cloverdale is a pretty good one and admission is free. There is also a play area (closed temporarily due to COVID-19) for kids. You can read about my visit here.

Museum of Vancouver – a museum in Vanier Park in Kitsilano that shares the history of the city. It's a fairly small one, but definitely worth checking out on Family day when it is free.

Vancouver Maritime Museum – this museum is right next to the Museum of Vancouver, and is a small one, but has a ship inside to check out which is pretty cool. It's also free during family day and a small place.

Vancouver Police Museum - a quaint museum near Vancouver's Chinatown showcasing a morgue as well as other things. Fairly small but tends to run regular promotions on the tickets. Read about my visit here.

Britannia Mine – a museum that’s 45 minutes from downtown Vancouver and formerly the largest copper mine in the British Empire. (Note: It’s mostly indoors, but some of it is outside and visitors have to walk outdoors between buildings, so if it’s raining hard you might still want an umbrella.)

Museum of North Vancouver (MONOVA) – this museum was set to open in 2020 but due to COVID-19, the date has been moved to sometime in 2021. Definitely worth checking out once it is open!

Gulf of Georgia Cannery - this museum is in Steveston, and is basically a historic cannery of the 1800s with interactive exhibits, film, and tours that demonstrate the Cannery's important role in the history of Canada's West Coast fishing industry. The visit can be combined with a visit to the Shipyards (outdoors) and Steveston village. Read about my post here about the visit.

Science World – one of the best family-friendly museums of the city with some amazing science exhibits. On certain days, it is free but it is indeed worth it to go once with your kids. It does get crowded though.

UBC Museum of Anthropology – one of the best cultural museums in Metro Vancouver, especially when it comes to indigenous art and history. Once again, great to check out as part of Groupon or a Vancouver Attraction pass.

Beaty Biodiversity Museum – admission at the UBC attraction is between about $10 and $14 depending on your age, but free for children ages 4 and under. Moreover, there are often Groupon deals. You can read my post on this museum here.

Bill Reid Gallery – a Northwest Coast First Nation art gallery that offers free admission on the first Friday of the month from 2 to 5 pm. While it's a small gallery, it's definitely a hidden gem.

Roedde House Museum – a heritage site in Vancouver’s West End. They offer admission by donation on the last Friday of the month, plus “pay-as-you-can” Jazz concerts in the summer.

Old Hastings Mill Store Museum - A somewhat unusual museum, this one is one of the oldest buildings in Vancouver. This museum is full of items dating back from the early days of Vancouver. There is no fixed visiting fee, people can pay whatever they want. The location is a plus as it is right next to the Yaught Club.

H.R. MacMillan Space Centre – the Space Centre’s observatory is open Saturday evenings from 8 pm to midnight by donation. It’s just the observatory with admission by donation, not the Planetarium, but it’s an affordable way to see the stars on a clear evening.

Polygon Gallery – the art museum in North Vancouver’s Lower Lonsdale District has admission by donation.

Vancouver Art Gallery – this is the main art gallery in Vancouver, housed in a building that was once the provincial courthouse. While the architecture is grand, I am not often the fan of their art, which tends to showcase mostly modern art pieces. Admission is by donation on Tuesdays from 5 to 9 pm.

BC Sports Hall of Fame – a museum full of sports memorabilia at BC Place Stadium.

Note, that this list of museums are all indoor museums but there are plenty of other heritage sites that are outdoors, which I will write about later.

If there is anything else you all would like to add?

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Among the places to visit in Vancouver, the Vancouver Police Museum is not when that usually comes to mind. However, I saw that it popped up on Groupon and thought why not? We ended up going for it on a rainy day and it did not disappoint.

The Vancouver Police Museum (formerly called the Vancouver Police Centennial Museum) was started way back in 1986 by Joe Swan, a former police sergeant and amateur historian. Swan wrote the department's official history book, which was published by the Vancouver Historical Society in 1986, entitled, A Century of Service: The Vancouver Police, 1886-1986.

The museum and is housed in a old brick “heritage” building which, only six years before, was the Coroner’s Court and autopsy facilities. The morgue has since been turned into part of the museum and can be toured. The area the building is in, is in the Hastings area, which houses many homeless and drug addicts, FYI.

You can also check it out on Family Day in February, when entrance is free and there are also activities planned. When we went, we also did a scavenger hunt to search for letters hidden all around the Museum, and it was a fun activity.

The museum houses a number of items. In one room, there were firearms, whereas the main room had a city hall exhibit, police uniforms and vehicles, not to mention a lot of other memorabilia.

The museum is run by the Vancouver Police Historical Society, a non-profit organization established in 1983 with the mandate to foster interest in the history of the Vancouver Police Department and to open a museum for this purpose.

The other rooms have wall exhibits so there's less interactive stuff. There are lots of photographs and images and text so you can peruse at your own leisure. Since the museum itself is small, it is worth it to read through the exhibits.

Definitely though, the creepiest part of the museum is the morgue where they do the autopsies and they have specimens of body parts as well. Our daughter delighted in it, but mind I say, it was CREEPY.

This image below is actually organs and some other fairly intense anatomical specimens left over from crime analysis!

Just note that it is a small museum and could take maybe half an hour or an hour to see all of it. However, while the tickets are around $12, there are many days in the year when the museum is free (family day) and there are also lots of Groupons that one can avail to get a good deal.

The museum is located on Cordova Street, which is one block north of Hastings. There is extensive metered parking in the blocks surrounding the museum, costing $1 per hour

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