On Saturday we took a short walk from our apartment to visit the Royal Ontario Museum and check out the latest exhibits!
The Royal Ontario Museum's new (ish) facade.
The ROM has a huge collection of art, world culture and natural history with a constant stream of new temporary exhibits, so we had to get a membership - it seems like there’s always something new to find there. At the moment, they have an exhibit on Pompeii that tells the story of the infamous volcanic eruption, and provides an insight into the daily lives of the Roman people at the time based on the incredibly well preserved artefacts found in the ancient city.
An ancient 'Beware of the Dog' sign.
We opted for a guided tour around the exhibit, which was a great way to learn the story of Pompeii. Along the way we gathered around the occasional artefact as our guide told the story of the piece. It was amazing to see how well the ash had preserved the statues, paintings and mosaics. A couple of things we learned:
- Those beautiful white Roman statues you see used to be painted to be as lifelike as possible.
- The Romans “cleaned” their togas with fermented urine, and halitosis was common. So the Roman empire was a bit smelly.
- There were female Gladiotors called Gladiatrix.
- Gladiators were Roman celebs, and were often too valuable to just kill off.
- Actors too were celebrities, and people wrote graffiti around town to express their fondness for them.
Our guide explaining togas to us.
After a vivid picture of life in Pompeii had been painted, we encountered the second half of the exhibit which presented the human toll of the eruption. The ROM had a number of casts of the original human remains from the site. It was a pretty tragic sight, especially since we’d spent the prior 45 minutes picturing a vibrant city that was full of life.
A 3D Printed cast of the "Sick Man" from Pompeii.
However, although the volcanic eruption was a devastating tragedy, as archaeologists uncover more and more of the site, the way that the city was preserved will provide insights into Roman life in 79 AD for generations to come.
Roman glass that melted in the heat.
Another temporary exhibit currently on display in the ROM is the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year. We’d been to see the last few Wildlife Photographer exhibits at the Natural History Museum in London, so it was very cool to be able to see it down the road from us. Needless to say, an amazing exhibit with lots of mind-blowingly beautiful images.
The day ended off with some tasty food and drinks (this seems to be a theme in Toronto) with a couple of our friends. All in all, another successful Something Saturday in Toronto! We’re looking forward to exploring all that the ROM has to offer as time goes on.
Here are some more photos from our trip to the ROM:
The day ended off with some tasty food and drinks (this seems to be a theme in Toronto) with a couple of our friends. All in all, another successful Something Saturday in Toronto! We’re looking forward to exploring all that the ROM has to offer as time goes on.
Here are some more photos from our trip to the ROM:
Curious to see what we were up to last year? We were showing our friend Jon around St. John's and enjoying Nouvelle Newfoundlandland Cuisine at Bacalao. And back in 2013 we visited Admiralty House in Mount Pearl.
