Royal BC Museum

The Royal BC Museum on Belleville Street in Victoria traces its founding to a petition that 30 prominent citizens presented to the lieutenant governor on January 16, 1886, asking for a provincial museum. Its collections hold over 7 million objects, including more than 370,000 natural history specimens, and it also runs the BC Archives.

The Natural History gallery spans ice age habitats to present day forests, with Woolly the mammoth as the museum's unofficial mascot. Old Town, New Approach, which reopened in 2023, steps visitors into 20th century BC society, while Our Living Languages, developed with the First Peoples' Cultural Council, and the Jonathan Hunt House, a Kwakwaka'wakw ceremonial house, present Indigenous culture. The feature exhibition Ancient Egypt: Obsessed with Life runs until January 3, 2027. Outside, Thunderbird Park holds carved poles and Mungo Martin House. Adult admission is $32.