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Oh, Canada: A Review of Two Toronto Museums
By Li Rapkin
Hockey
Hall of Fame/BCE Place
Corner of Front & Yonge (BCE Place), Toronto, Ontario
The Hockey
Hall of Fame (www.hhof.com)
is probably one of the best modern museums I've been to in
ages. Ostensibly, it's in a "heritage trust" (historic) building
that used to be a branch of the Bank of Montreal. However,
when you arrive, you're at BCE Place, which is a huge glass-and-steel
building with shops, restaurants, banks, and a metro stop.
There's a second heritage trust building incorporated into
the structure, which is still in use as some sort of office.
The entrance
to the Hockey Hall of Fame is on the concourse level of BCE
Place. Admission is $12 Canadian, which comes out to around
$8 U.S. Admission is good for the entire day; the attendant
will stamp your hand. Immediately in front of the entrance
is the Wayne Gretzky exhibit. I was once told that Ontarians
love Wayne Gretzky, even though he never played there professionally--
in the 1990s, an ideal game in Maple Leaf Gardens was one
in which Gretzky got a hat trick and the Leafs won by one
point. This is overwhelmingly obvious in the Gretzky exhibit.
Every single puck, stick, sweater, skate, score sheet, and
shin pad has been carefully preserved, displayed, and labeled.
As you wander through the circular display, a loop of interview
videotape plays on large monitors above.
If you
can manage to tear yourself away from Wayne's World, there's
plenty to see. One of the additions since my last visit was
a display of memorabilia from the Original Six hockey stadiums
(Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium, Detroit Olympia, Madison
Square Garden, Montreal Forum, and Maple Leaf Gardens). There's
a complete mockup of the Montreal Canadiens' dressing room,
as well as a training room-- although I suspect that the smell
is far too pleasant to be authentic.
Several
of the displays are what you'd expect-- collections of pucks,
sweaters, and gear from minor leagues, the Olympics, and assorted
women's and international teams. There's a series of cases
devoted to Hall-of-Famers like Bobby Orr, Bobby Clarke, Terry
Sawchuck, Lanny MacDonald, and Mario Lemieux, among others.
However, there's a lot more to it. Most of the concourse-level
exhibits are very visitor-friendly, with interactive exhibits.
There's a massive theater that was showing playoff games live
when I was there. I watched Pittsburgh lose to Buffalo in
overtime on a screen the size of a small county. There are
several other video exhibits, along with interactive screens
attached to several of the cases. Another section, the "Broadcast
Zone", shows what the inside of a TV production truck looks
like. There are also two booths that give visitors the opportunity
to call a play and anchor a sports desk; you can play back
your recording as soon as it's done. In the "Rink Zone", there
are interactive games, most of which cost a little extra.
You can suit up in goalie gear and attempt to stop various
NHL players' passes as they shoot out of a video display.
Alternately, you can take a shot at a virtual goalie yourself.
There's even a hot dog and snack cart.
The Stanley
Cup, along with the Vezina, Calder, Norris, Hart, and various
other trophies and the Hall of Fame inductee portraits, resides
in the actual Bank of Montreal portion of the building. Directly
over the Cup is a stunning stained glass dome. The entire
room is paneled in wood, with wonderful moldings and an ornate
ceiling. There's even some period furniture. It's a distinct
contrast from the rest of the museum, which is extremely modern.
If you don't give a rat's ass about hockey, the architecture
alone is worth the trip. The original Stanley Cup is in the
old bank vault, along with some of the various parts that
have been removed over the years. There's actually more than
one trophy-- there's the presentation cup and the display
cup. The display cup is the one that's usually in the Hall
of Fame, and you can pay $10 to have your picture taken with
it. (When I was there in 1995, it was free if you brought
your own camera). Surrounding the Stanley Cup are "Honoured
Member" black-and-white portraits on glass, with various trophies
around the perimeter of the room. Before you leave, step outside
the building and have a look at the sculpture of players leaning
over the boards on Front Street.
After
you're done at the Hall of Fame, there are several shops and
restaurants at BCE Place. I had lunch at Marché, which is
run by a Swiss chain called Mövenpick. You pick up a tray
and wander through various serving stations where you choose
from a variety of different foods-- soups, salad, steaks,
Indonesian curries, sushi, stir-fry, pizza, juice bar, desserts,
"adult beverages", and sandwiches. If your group can't agree
on what to eat, this is the place to go. It's not an-all-you-can-eat
setup; you'll get a ticket that is stamped every time you
choose an item, and it's totaled up at the end. It's not cheap,
but it is really good food. I had shrimp stir-fry, and I got
to choose my own vegetables, sauces, and seasonings. I got
there toward the end of the lunch rush, and some of the vegetables
looked a little dry from sitting out, but tasted all right
when cooked. For dessert, I had what may very well be Canada's
best chocolate mousse, with a vanilla sauce. Seating is placed
around the serving stations; mostly bistro-style tables, although
there is some picnic-style seating. The place is something
of a maze, but it's fun to explore. There's a lot of whimsy
in the design; the interior is reminiscent of a European market
square in spring, with tons of plants and flowers in pots
everywhere. There's also indoor "patio" seating, complete
with umbrella tables and even more plants. Marché is open
until 2:00 AM, and you can even get fresh flowers with your
take-out.
BCE place is connected to both the Metro and the network of
underground pedestrian tunnels that runs under Toronto's downtown
core.
.
Royal
Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park Crescent, Toronto, Ontario
No rating
due to lack of complete information
The Royal
Ontario Museum (www.rom.on.ca)
is one of those museums you can't see in just one day. Fortunately,
a visit that includes just a few galleries is satisfying enough
to keep you from feeling like you've missed something. I only
had a few hours, but managed to see a lot in that time. My
favorite exhibit was Legacy in Gold: Scythian Treasures From
the Ancient Ukraine. Because a lot of Scythian artifacts have
been dug up only recently, this is their first trip outside
of the Ukraine. Most of the display consists of decorative
objects, especially jewelry and items used to decorate clothing.
Several of the artifacts were in sufficiently good condition
that archeologists were able to determine the color of fabrics
that were found. In the actual exhibit, the fabrics have been
replaced with modern mock-ups, but to achieve that kind of
accuracy is wonderful. There are also several weapons and
some horse gear. The most interesting part of the exhibit
is the way it's set up to show interaction between the Scythians
and the neighboring Greek and Middle Eastern cultures. The
hybrid styles of the various objects are a clear indicator
that multicultural societies are nothing new. There are also
a couple of videos that are set up as part of the exhibit.
One is a brief description of who the Scythians were, and
the other summarizes the excavation of a Scythian tomb. The
exhibit closed on May 6th, and if it turns up in a museum
near you, I highly recommend it.
Another
interesting exhibit is Just Uncrated: Masterpieces from the
Tannenbaum Gift. The Tannenbaum family donated about 1,800
Chinese, Near Eastern, and European artifacts to the ROM in
November of last year. Only a handful of items are out for
display, most of them from eastern Asia. What makes it interesting
is that many of the items are still in their original packing
crates, with the front of the case replaced with a glass panel.
You can see how the various items are packed for shipment,
sort of a "behind-the-scenes" peek at how the museum does
things. Notes about the various items are on clipboards that
sit on the crates. The items do lack context, but it's a great
preview for the exhibit that is sure to follow.
The Gallery
of Korean Art, which just opened last fall, has a relatively
small but beautiful collection of ceramics, arranged by artistic
style. It's one of the smaller galleries, but it provides
an excellent overview of domestic life in pre-modern Korea.
There is a tabletop model of an aristocrat's house (which
is really more of a compound, with several buildings), and
a video display of how moveable type is produced and used.
Current
exhibits that I didn't get a chance to see are The Stone Age:
Canadian Lithography From Its Beginnings; The Christopher
Ondaatje South Asian Gallery; The East Asian Sculpture Gallery;
the Weinberg Judaica collection; Káxláya Gvi'ílás: "The Ones
Who Uphold the Laws of Our Ancestors" (An Exhibition of Heiltsuk
Art and Culture); a display of Art Deco-style decorative arts
from the Ostry collection; a photographic exhibit of modern,
multicultural Toronto; Silver: The Sterling Choice (post-Renaissance
silver work); Hands-on Biodiversity; The Maiasaur Project:
The Life and Times of a Dinosaur; The Inco Gallery of Earth
Sciences; and the Discovery Gallery.
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