The iconic Canadian Museum of History building celebrates 35 years 

 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Inaugurated in June 1989, the famous Canadian Museum of History building, designed by renowned Indigenous architect Douglas Cardinal, is blowing out 35 candles this year. To mark this special anniversary, surprises await the public taking part in the festivities on June 29 and 30.

Do you remember the admission prices when the Museum opened in 1989? For this special weekend only, we’re rolling back admission fees to the same price as the inauguration day: $9.75 for adults, $6.75 for seniors, $6.75 for students and $4.50 for children. Reserve your tickets at this special price now at historymuseum.ca.

On top of that, everyone who becomes a member of the Museum or renews their membership on June 29 and 30 will receive an extra 35 days added to their annual membership as a gift. More details are available on the membership webpage.

For this special occasion, CINÉ+ will be dusting off its original 70 mm projector to present films incorporating its iconic dome screen. Visitors are invited to take a walk on the wild side with two classics. Finalist for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2000, Dolphins, with a soundtrack by Sting, is sure to enchant audiences and inspire respect for the ocean and the importance of scientific research to preserve it. And Grand Canyon: River at Risk will take viewers on an exhilarating river-rafting trip down the Colorado River alongside two renowned environmentalists.

Some key facts about the building :
• The roof of the Museum Building is made of nearly 11,000 square metres (weighing 99 tonnes!) of Canadian copper — more copper than on any other building in the world.

• The Museum complex is faced with 30,000 square metres of Tyndall limestone, enough to build 460 bungalows. Quarried in Manitoba, Tyndall stone was also used for Canada’s Parliament Buildings.

• The Museum’s infrastructure contains 56,000 cubic metres of cement, enough for 8,500 truckloads, and 7,300 tonnes of steel, or about three-quarters of the amount used to build the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

• The Museum covers over 1 million square feet and consists of two distinct pavilions. The Museum Building houses public exhibitions in over 270,000 square feet of display space. The Curatorial Building houses conservation laboratories, staff offices, and the National Collection, which consists of over 3 million artifacts and specimens, including some of Canada’s most valued national treasures.

• Over the years, the Grand Hall has provided a stunning setting for state visits by dignitaries including Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and many other world leaders.

Located on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabeg, in the heart of the National Capital Region in Gatineau, Quebec, the Canadian Museum of History is one of the country’s most popular museum institutions. With roots stretching back to 1856, it is one of Canada’s oldest public institutions and a respected centre of museological excellence, sharing its expertise in education, history, archaeology, ethnology and cultural studies both within Canada and abroad.

For more information, please visit historymuseum.ca or call 819-776-7000 or 1 800 555-5621.

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