Royal Ontario Museum

My time is Toronto is just about over, and I thought I should use my last post to talk about what I think is probably the coolest place in Toronto. The Royal Ontario Museum, or ROM for short, is one of the premier museums of  Canada, and probably the best in Ontario. To give an idea of how expansive it is, I’ve been there twice, each time for three hours, and I’ve probably seen only 80% so far.

In any event, it’s a wonderful way to discover the history of the world’s cultures. My personal favorite exhibit was of the First Nations, who inhabited North America before European explorers made their way over.

The exhibit pays respect to  the people of First Nations by highlighting their historical tools and artifacts. I was particularly struck by the simple beauty of this summer dress from the Tr’ondek Hwech’in society that lived in the Yukon.

Not to mention this canoe, which was created in response to conduct trades due to its immense carrying capacity, illustrating how Canada’s indigenous people had prospering economies, even if they weren’t as technologically sophisticated as Europe came to develop.

The First Nations exhibit did a great job tracing the history of First Nations identity by incorporating centuries-old art with the work of contemporary artists. A favorite of mine was this undoubtedly wonderful piece by Jane Ash Poitras. Her powerful triptych Potato Peeling 101  to Ethnobotany 101 depicts the mistreatment First Nations children experienced when they were forced to assimilate into residential schools throughout the 20^th century. As a consequence, many First Nations traditions, such as medicinal treatments language were forced to be given up for the most “sophisticated” mores of white Canada. As you can see, the work juxtaposes historical narrative (the long pages of text) with children’s paintings of First Nations stories and motifs, symbolizing the surrender of their culture.

Also on the first floor is the not-to-be missed section devoted to Asian cultures. In sum, the exhibit explores Chinese, Japanese and Korean history through its art and artifacts. 

Particularly striking was the Korean pottery, not to mention statues of  Chinese royalty.

The exhibits on the third floor are just as exciting as the ones on the first, and is solely devoted to ancient civilizations (did you know there was once such a people called the Etruscans? I didn’t). As an econ major, I was very fascinated by the section of Byzantine coins. Specifically, it made me think of how in this day and age we tend to take pride in our government (bear with me) and think of each new idea as innovative and will “carry us forward.” The fact is, as this museum detailed, that many of the debates we have today, about government’s role in determining social and economic freedoms have been held throughout the history of politics. I was quite surprised then, to read all about how bureaucratic the Byzantine government was. In fact it was so powerful that it was able to regulate factories, set wages and prices, as well as maintain an active monetary policy.  That said, although they’re different in countless ways, the ancient world and our modern one are more similar and faced similar issues than people initially think.  To me, this really brings the ancient world to life. Usually we think of these civilizations as a bunch of people in white robes, but being able to see how they actually lived day to day is quite humanizing.

That’s why I was just as intrigued by these 2000 year old artifacts. The first of which shows two men assisting a cow giving birth and the second shows people providing a  (dead) beloved one with gifts for the afterlife before the final burial. They’re quite attention grabbing simply due to how they encapsulate what it was like to live in Egypt’s agricultural society. 

The fact that they’re in color, which is so well preserved, brings another layer of realism to the experience, and is also rather humbling. When we see the artwork of ancient civilizations, we’re a bit underwhelmed by how simple they are or the fact that they’re just drawings—two dimensional and barely lifelike by modern standards. However, looking at these figurines, we realized that they’re not very different from a typical child’s toy from as late as the 1920s. That is, two generations ago, certain aspects of our technological, “capitalist” economy weren’t much improved beyond what the ancient Egyptians could do thousands of years ago. That’s another way I noticed in which the present isn’t really that distinct from the past as we usually like to think we are.

In addition to the cultures of the First Nations, Eastern Asia and Egypt, much of the museum was devoted to European history. Particularly striking was the Roman exhibit’s sculpture displays.

What I especially liked about the Roman exhibit was how it captured the essence of everyday Romans in addition to great art. Yes, the most prominent bust on display is that of an emperor, but several of the portraits came from the remains of ancient Roman household.

A curious feature is how there’s a touch of realism the faces of this boy and young woman are, which is in contrast to how the Greeks depicted themselves. Instead, the Greeks valued pure, transcendent beauty above all. In this frieze over the ancient Greek exhibit, the simple forms illustrate the Greeks’ preference for beauty and idealism, in direct contrast to the Roman aesthetic.

 In another section of the third floor, the museum traces the history of Western Civilization in a very creative way. Spanning from Renaissance Italy to 1960s Toronto, the exhibit traces the history of the room. 

One thing that you couldn’t help notice is that with each step into the future, the rooms got more and more filled with stuff. Just looking at the renaissance bedroom to the 1960s room, you could see a room filled with a TV, radio, tables, couch, record collection, etc.  vs. just a bed and a harp, which just goes to show the radical extent to which scientific and economic ingenuity can benefit our lives.

There’s a lot more to see at the ROM, but one of the coolest things about it is that it lets you explore the evolution of cultures from disparate parts of the world. As globalization gets stronger and cultures blend with one another, cultural differences still persist, and institutions like the ROM allow us to see understand how those cultures came to be.