The province has announced that the popular Old Town gallery will return to Royal BC Museum (RBCM) this summer.
In an announcement Tuesday, the province announced the beloved experience will return with a new approach on July 29th.
“Old Town is beloved by hundreds of thousands of visitors. I know people miss it, are passionate about it and want access to it,” said Lana Popham, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport.
“We have heard you. The reopening of Old Town is exciting news for many who have fond memories of previous visits there, and for visitors who will experience it for the first time.”
The gallery has been closed for a year and a half, but remains largely unchanged. However, some changes will be made to address past concerns.
The exhibit showcasing the province’s early European settlement history has been identified as problematic, and the museum leadership has decided to permanently close and remove it as part of their “decolonization” process, which began in late 2021.
Most of the exhibits will return, such as the garage, train station, hotel, saloon, parlour, kitchen, print shop and Chinatown preserved as they were.
Other spaces that have been emptied will be a re-imagined with a new perspective.
The Majestic Theatre will not feature its Hollywood silent film rotation and, instead, will present historical footage showcasing the diversity of BC’s voices and stories.
“We look forward to welcoming visitors back into Old Town with this new approach,” said Alicia Dubois, CEO, Royal BC Museum. “We’re committed to increasing inclusivity and accessibility to the museum through extensive engagement and co-creation of exhibits with communities, and inviting people back into this space allows further opportunities to do that.”
In addition to the changes, new contextual panels will be seen throughout the gallery that provide background and historical reference.
These panels will “encourage critical thinking and ignite imagination,” the province said.
The province said the reopening of Old Town is the first phase of a multi-year project to transform RBCM.
Each phase will be informed by public engagement that invites people and communities to consider how spaces like Old Town and the First Peoples’ Gallery can be more relevant, inclusive and engaging.
Several areas of the third floor will not be accessible to visitors, such as the Becoming BC Gallery that includes the ship, the gold mine, the farm and the cannery.
The First Peoples’ Gallery is closed while the space is being used to host engagement sessions with Indigenous communities.
The area that had the Century Hall and Our Living Languages exhibits will be used to host SUE: The T. rex Experience that will be open June 16th.
The third-floor galleries were initially closed due to the provincial government’s plan to demolish the museum complex, built in 1968, and construct a new modern museum building at a cost of $800 million. This plan has now been cancelled after public backlash.
“We made choices based on the best information at hand, and we thought we had it right. Clearly, we did not,” said former Premier John Horgan during a June 22nd, 2022 press conference.
“I’ve heard the people of BC quite clearly that we were making the wrong decision at the wrong time.”
In mid-May, BC officials said the RBCM on Belleville Street would close this September to make way for a state-of-the-art, seismically safe building expected to open in 2030.
Meanwhile, construction of a new Collections and Research Building in Colwood, set to open in 2025, will continue and house museum artifacts once complete.
