The ROM opened it’s doors at 3pm on Mar. 19, 1914
By: Cameron Da Silva
The Royal Ontario Museum celebrated its 100 year anniversary this week. To commemorate Canada’s largest museum of natural history and culture, the ROM announced four new legacy projects.
A $15-million fundraising goal was announced, plans include renovations to the front entrance.
“For one hundred years the ROM has connected visitors to their world and each other,” said ROM Director and CEO Janet Carding in a press release.
Some quick facts about the museum:
– The museum opened with a staff of about 20, there are currently 305
– The museum’s initial construction budget of $400,000 was split between the province and the university of Toronto
– In 1912, Canadian politician Sir Edmund Olser donated 100 Paul Kane paintings
– It was designed by the architectural firm Pearson and Darling
– Architect Daniel Libeskind’s first sketch of the museum’s diamond shape was on a paper napkin at a wedding at the ROM
-The ROM houses more than four million specimens
– A mummified cat, that archeologist Charles Trick Currelly acquired in Egypt, has been on display since 1914 – Currelly was also the first director for the Royal Ontario Museum
Here is a timeline of the Royal Ontario Museum’s major events