From a stuffed Trumpeter Swan donated in 1895 to over 80,000 objects today, the Museum of Vancouver tells stories that reach back millennia before the city even existed.

Housed in a distinctive building that locals call "the Taj Mahal on the creek," the Museum of Vancouver sits in scenic Vanier Park overlooking English Bay.

As Canada's largest civic museum, it has spent more than 125 years collecting, preserving, and sharing the stories of this Pacific Coast city. But its collections extend far beyond Vancouver's borders, encompassing ancient Egyptian mummies, Chinese ceramics from the Shang dynasty, and one of the most significant Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations collections in the country.

From Granville Street to Vanier Park

The museum began in 1894 when the Art, Historical, and Scientific Association of Vancouver opened its first exhibition in rented rooms above the Dunn Building on Granville Street. The first donation, that Trumpeter Swan from Mr. Sydney Williams, arrived in 1895.

For decades the museum moved between locations, spending time on the top floor of the Carnegie Library before finally settling into its current home in 1968. The building opened during Canada's Confederation Centennial celebrations, designed by Gerald Hamilton in the West Coast Modernist style. Its sweeping conical roof was intended to echo the woven basket hats of Northwest Coast First Nations people, though many mistake it for a flying saucer due to its distinctive shape.

Collections Spanning Continents and Centuries

The museum holds approximately 80,000 objects, with 90% accessible through its online database. Among its treasures are objects carved by renowned Haida artist Charles Edenshaw, including the Edenshaw Casket, and a basket collected by Captain George Vancouver on his first voyage to the Pacific Northwest in the 1790s.

The Asian antiquities collection includes Chinese art from the 16th-century BCE Shang dynasty through the Qing dynasty, featuring ceramics, jade carvings, and over 400 Japanese sword guards making up the finest public collection in Canada. The Egyptian collection features a mummified boy named Penechates discovered near Luxor in 1915, alongside mummified crocodiles, hawks, and cats.

A Museum Confronting Its Past

What sets the Museum of Vancouver apart is its commitment to repatriation and community engagement. Since establishing an official repatriation policy in 2006, updated in 2020, the museum actively works to return Indigenous belongings to their communities.

The award-winning permanent exhibition c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city exemplifies this approach. Created in partnership with the Musqueam Indian Band, it addresses a troubling chapter: the 1930 archaeological excavations of the Marpole Midden, an unceded Musqueam ancestral village site. The 2025 exhibition The Work of Repair continues this important work, showing how museums can reconnect Indigenous belongings to their histories and communities.

Museum of Vancouver Highlights & Tips

• c̓əsnaʔəm Exhibition This powerful collaboration with the Musqueam Indian Band explores Vancouver's Indigenous history before colonization, featuring artifacts from the Marpole Midden archaeological site.
• 1960s-1970s History Gallery Experience Vancouver's counterculture era through immersive displays featuring sound, film, and period artifacts including restored neon signs from the city's streets.
• Charles Edenshaw Artworks See works by the celebrated Haida artist, including the intricately carved Edenshaw Casket, part of one of Canada's most significant Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations collections.
• Ancient Egyptian Mummy Meet Penechates, son of Hatres, a mummified boy discovered one mile from the Valley of the Kings in 1915, with visible inscriptions on the wrappings.
• Captain Vancouver's Basket View a basket collected by Captain George Vancouver himself during his pioneering 1790s voyage to the Pacific Northwest Coast.
• Shared Building Space The museum shares an entrance and foyer with the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre. The Museum of Vancouver occupies the vast majority of the building despite the planetarium's visibility.
• Online Collection Access Before or after your visit, explore the museum's online database featuring photographs of approximately 72,000 objects from the collection.
• Vanier Park Location The museum is located at 1100 Chestnut Street in Vanier Park, Kitsilano. The park connects to the Maritime Museum, Vancouver Planetarium, and waterfront, making it easy to visit multiple attractions.
• Rotating Exhibitions Check the website before visiting to see current temporary exhibitions, which typically explore contemporary issues and diverse community histories alongside the permanent galleries.

The Museum of Vancouver is more than a repository of artifacts. It is a space where difficult histories are confronted, where the Musqueam people's stewardship of c̓əsnaʔəm is honored, and where a stuffed swan from 1895 connects to today's conversations about what Vancouver was, is, and can become.

Whether you're drawn to ancient Chinese ceramics, the counterculture revolution of the 1960s, or the ongoing work of repatriation and repair, this museum offers unexpected discoveries at every turn. Its commitment to being a gathering space for diverse communities makes each visit both a look backward and a conversation about the future.