A Bigger and Better Royal Alberta Museum Opens

Quite Instrumental to the artistic design and construction of the RAM, Architect Donna Clare, inhesitantly posed with the Alberta Filipino Journal Team during the Museum’s soft opening.

The new Royal Alberta Museum boasts 82,000 square feet of exhibit space. This is double the amount of space they had in their old Glenora location. They have dedicated 30,000 square feet each to natural and human history and 12,000 square feet for a feature exhibitions hall, 7,000 square feet dedicated to the Children’s gallery, and 3,000 square feet was used for the new expanded bug gallery.

The museum has populated their galleries with things they have collected in the past 50 years. RAM wants visitors to gain a greater understanding of this fascinating place called Alberta and want people to know “What makes Alberta, Alberta.”

RAM does not present their exhibits like a University 101 class but instead, uses a series of events and moments that helped shape us into the Alberta that we are today. The museum has taken an approach to make the objects tell the story while supporting it with text and graphic panels and interactive media.

There are 5,300 objects on display at the human and natural history gallery. This is a large figure but only a small percentage of the under 2.5 million arte facts in their collection.

In the Main hall, you will find the Human history hall which showcases unique, industrious and resilient people who have left a mark on the Province. One of the cabinets showcases Teresita Pajarillo Oliva, who founded the FNAA (Filipino Nurses Association of Alberta). Oliva was instrumental in bridging the gap by teaching Filipino nurses the Canadian way of doing things so they could challenge the nursing exams when they came to Canada. The hall is comprised of 6 galleries and the interior houses different objects.

In the Human history hall, you will find the Introduction of Disease, European Culture, indigenous ones and emergence of the Metis nation. This is also the place where you will find the Winningest Sports Franchise, Dorothy Hepler’s experience with polio and let’s not forget the exhibit with Alberta’s love affair with their favorite pick up game, which is also on exhibit plus about 150 stories more in the human history gallery.

As you continue on the main floor you will come to the bug gallery,where you will find a showcase of hundreds of local and exotic little creatures that inhabit the world. The gallery aims to celebrate the beauty of invertebrates and to get to know them a little better. They make up 95% of the known species in the animal kingdom. This alone will definitely draw attention from kids and adults who want to understand invertebrates more. There are also 11 media stations, 11 film stations and you will be able to see things you do not normally see. With all that it offers, this new museum is another good reason for why people should visit Edmonton.

The Museum is now open and is located on 9810-103A Avenue in the heart of Downtown Edmonton. The museum opens at 10 AM and closes at 5 PM except on Thursday, where they close at 8 PM.