Museums and galleries
UVic's art collections
The University of Victoria Art Collections holds approximately 27,000 art objects. The collections support teaching and research programs at the university, and selected pieces are exhibited at various locations around campus. The inventory can be searched online.
The Legacy Gallery
An exciting addition to Victoria's arts scene is The Legacy Gallery in downtown Victoria. Owned by the University of Victoria, the gallery was made possible by the generosity of well-known local benefactor, Michael Williams, whose collection focussed on 20th-century Canadian art.
Royal BC Museum
The Royal BC Museum, located in downtown Victoria, showcases the human and natural history of British Columbia and temporary exhibits from other countries and cultures. Authentic artifacts and specimens are displayed in highly realistic settings, giving visitors the experience of another time and place.
The museum's permanent exhibits include:
Tours of the galleries and cultural precinct attractions are included with admission to the museum. The BC Archives has full-service hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Please visit their website for more information on planning your visit.
Living Landscapes is the BC Archives' regional outreach program. The program uses locally-generated stories and research on specific regions of British Columbia: the Thompson-Okanagan, the Columbia Basin, the Upper Fraser Basin, the Peace River/Northern Rockies region and the Northwest. You can learn more about human and natural history as well as educational initiatives in each region of our beautiful and diverse province.
You can also watch a variety of films at the IMAX theatre. The museum provides a combo package of both an Imax film as well as entry to the museum.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is located in the Spencer Mansion on Moss Street, a short bus ride from downtown.
Its permanent exhibitions include an extensive collection of Emily Carr's paintings and writings.
The gallery features many public programs for schools, youth and families, and adults as well as diverse temporary exhibits.
Open Space Gallery
The Open Space Gallery, established in 1972, is Victoria's oldest non-profit artist-run centre. Located downtown on Fort Street, the gallery is also a performance centre that stages literary readings and concerts. Its online projects include Audiospace and various web-specific works. The website also includes a very useful listing of other galleries and related sites in its Links section.
Maritime Museum of British Columbia
The Maritime Museum of British Columbia, located in Bastion Square in the heart of downtown Victoria, documents the province's explorers, fur-traders, pirates, shipbuilding, whaling and fishing, and shipwrecks.
The museum features many lively children's activities, including education programs, pirate birthday parties, sleepover programs, and "museum without walls" presentations to classes and other groups. Check out the online exhibit, "Graveyard of the Pacific: The Shipwrecks of Vancouver Island", presented by the Virtual Museum of Canada.