Description: I renewed my membership at the Royal Ontario Museum and was able to get free tickets for the Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army for Saturday afternoon. The special exhibit has timed tickets which are an additional cost on top of entry to the museum. General adult admission is $24, with the special exhibit, the total is $31. Online purchases are a good idea as it was fairly crowded when we went on a Saturday afternoon.
The Terracotta warriors exhibit was very educational as I know pretty much nothing about China’s history. While the highlights are the 10 life size terracotta figures unearthed from the army pits starting in 1974, the exhibition is so much more. It explains the history both before and after the First Emperor of China and what is known about the enormous tomb complex he had built with numerous artifacts from the complex. I came out of the exhibit knowing so much more than I used to know about Chinese history.
We also visited some of the permanent exhibits in the original part of the Museum. The gems and minerals section is particularly rich. We looked until we had to leave because it was closing time. Two hours was not enough time at the ROM.
The ROM recently underwent a renovation finished just this year, with its centrepiece being the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind. The Libeskind design saw some of the old galleries torn down and replaced with a Deconstructivist crystalline-form structure which makes its exterior a dramatic building to look at from the exterior.
The museum also has a bar and restaurant on the 5th level called C5 where we went after we were made to leave the museum.
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