Museum of Anthropology at UBC

The Museum of Anthropology in the vicinity of Vancouver is one of the leading museums of the culture of the First Nations in the Pacific Northwest. It is a major tourist attraction and is located on Marine Drive in the University Endowment Lands, an unincorporated area west of the city. The museum is closely associated with the University of British Columbia ( UBC). The extensive collection is housed in a building made ​​of concrete, whose style is reminiscent of the framework of the local indigenous people.

Exhibition

The museum has numerous large sculptures, totem poles and cultural objects. Although the museum is dedicated to the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, which consists of approximately 38,000 ethnographic and archaeological objects about 535,000 collection also includes objects from all other continents. The collection consists of both historic and contemporary objects from.

The best-known exhibition object is probably the sculpture made ​​from the wood of the Nootka cypress "The Raven and the First Men" ( The Raven and the first men ) by Bill Reid, which is depicted on the Canadian 20 dollar bill. Other important works of Reid, his bears and Wasco sculptures, some examples of his gold jewelery and a prototype of the Haida dugout canoe, which he carved 86 for the World Expo.

The Museum has several major artifacts of the Musqueam tribe from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These are particularly rare because the Musqueam were one of the first peoples to the northwest, who were resettled by Europeans and decimated by entrained epidemics. Also at the museum includes an extensive collection from the South Pacific, and the Koerner Ceramics Gallery 600 European ceramics objects.

History

The foundation of the museum took place in 1947, were issued as different objects of ethnographic collection of the UBC in the basement of the university library to the public. Dr. Harry Hawthorn was the first director of the new museum, while his wife, Dr. Audrey Hawthorn officiated as the first curator.

1971 the museum received financial support from the Canadian government and the UBC in order to build a new museum building can. This was designed by renowned Canadian architect Arthur Erickson and opened in 1976. Walter and Marianne Koerner 1975 gave her extensive collection of Native American art to the museum, which still accounts for a large part of the exhibits today.