Eight great museums to visit in Ottawa and beyond this December

By the time late November rolls around, many of us are already seeking at least a few amusements that don’t involve decking our halls and donning our gay apparel. For those who want a breather from the holly and the ivy, a day trip or weekend getaway to a museum offers the perfect, centrally heated break. Here are eight places, in Ottawa and beyond, to learn, relax and recharge.

Photo by Chuck Clark, Canadian Museum of Nature.

Ottawa: Butterflies, art, knights and a sloth

Don’t want to drive? You can take OC Transpo to these local museums.

Buy tickets in advance if you want to visit Butterflies in Flight, the hugely popular installation of colourful, free-flying insects at the Canadian Museum of Nature (open now). And, starting December 21, you can visit live hedgehogs, bats, iguanas, rattlesnakes and a sloth at Survival of the Slowest. Both exhibitions run until April 22, 2019. 

Photo by Pierre Poirier, Canadian Museum of Nature.

On a more sombre note, the National Gallery of Canada offers Anthropocene, a contemporary art show focusing on the way natural resource extraction affects the environment, with photographs by Edward Burtynsky and films by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier.  

At the Canadian Museum of History, you still have time to see Medieval Europe: Power and Splendour, a show of some 200 artifacts from the British Museum that conjures up the world of chivalry and knights (until January 20, 2019). 

Montreal: Telephones and Alexander Calder

Montreal is packed with top-notch museums. Here are just a few of the shows you can catch this month.

Some 50,000 people have already strolled through the Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (until February 24, 2019). It’s the first major Canadian retrospective of works by the ground-breaking American artist, best known for his mobiles.

Alexander Calder: Radical Inventor exhibition, presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from September 21, 2018, to February 24, 2019. Copyright: © 2018 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SOCAN, Montreal. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley.

At the Pointe-à-Callière Museum, you can learn about the history of telephone communication from the 250 artifacts on display in Hello, Montreal (until January 6, 2019). You can also check out permanent exhibitions on the city’s history and archeology, such as a family-friendly interactive exhibition about pirates and privateers. 

Hockey lore in Renfrew, Kingston and Toronto

Did you know that Renfrew holds a hallowed place in the history of the NHL? Learn more at NHA/NHL Birthplace Museum in the Ottawa Valley town, where championship rings, signed tournament jerseys, antique skates and more are on display (open Thursdays through Saturdays in winter).

Did you also know that the Original Hockey Hall of Fame is in Kingston? Founded in 1943, it’s now located inside the Invista Centre hockey arena, just off Highway 401. Cool items include Canada’s first Olympic gold medal for hockey, a 19th-century jersey and what may be hockey’s only square puck. There’s also a film about Kingston’s role in hockey’s development, narrated by hometown son Don Cherry (open Thursdays through Sundays).

Photo of the Hockey Hall of Fame courtesy of Tourism Toronto.

Of course, you can also go to the big Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, where highlights include a 3D hockey movie, virtual reality simulators and the Stanley Cup.

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