Popular Old Town gallery at Royal BC Museum reopens with new approach

Old Town at the Royal BC Museum. (Royal BC Museum)

Following a major public outcry over its previous “permanent” closure, the Old Town gallery that has been a beloved half-century staple at the Royal BC Museum (RBCM) in Victoria reopened to the public this past weekend.

But the reopened permanent gallery on the third floor is not exactly the same as what existed prior to its closure since early January 2022, with the museum and provincial government first announcing its closure in late 2021.

The original plan was to demolish the gallery as part of the previous plan to demolish and build a brand-new museum complex at the edge of Victoria Inner Harbour. At the time, part of the rationale for removing the gallery was to perform a “decolonization” process over the exhibits that display BC’s early European history.

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However, despite the finality of the statements made, the exhibits were largely kept intact, especially after the provincial government’s decision in June 2022 to go back to the drawing board on its controversial $800 million museum redevelopment plans. The crown corporation that manages and operates the museum first announced the reopening of Old Town in early May 2023.

The following month in June 2023, Alicia Dubois suddenly resigned from her role as the CEO of the museum — just 16 months into the job, since joining the institution in February 2022. The museum is currently in the process of seeking a new permanent leader.

“Today is an exciting day for the people of BC and the Royal BC Museum,” said Lana Popham, BC’s minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, in a statement on Saturday.

“Old Town is an iconic exhibit that has entertained families and visitors for generations. The return of Old Town means people will reexperience some of their favourite memories at RBCM while learning about the museum’s plan to share more of our province’s diverse history and stories.”

Preparations for the July 2023 permanent reopening of Old Town at the Royal BC Museum. (Royal BC Museum)

The reopened sections of the former Becoming BC permanent modern history gallery include the garage, kitchen, Chinatown, hotel, train station, and other areas. A new series of contextual panels and displays will continually change over time to provide the exhibits with updated context and more diverse perspectives, including Indigenous considerations.

An Indigenous land acknowledgement is now incorporated into the gallery, the Majestic Theatre is now screening a number of Living Cultures films, and a new story of sleeping car porters — focusing on Vancouver’s former Black community in Hogan’s Alley — is now part of the Port Moody train station.

“The entire streetscape has been deep cleaned from top to bottom: windows have been wiped, cobblestones repaired, and the train is back, running right on schedule as always,” said Jana Stefan, the exhibitions production manager for the RBCM.

“The team has carefully cleaned the artifacts that will be on display and have printed and installed new signage to add context and to invite visitors to consider our displays in new ways.”

Preparations for the July 2023 permanent reopening of Old Town at the Royal BC Museum. (Royal BC Museum)

Prior to the work that was conducted over the last few months, the last major update made to this permanent gallery was in the 1990s to develop Chinatown.

The third floor of the museum is by far the most popular section of the museum. It was originally designed in the 1970s.

The area that previously contained the Century Hall and Our Living Languages exhibits is now being used to host the temporary SUE: The T. rex Experience, which opened last month.

While the museum redevelopment in downtown Victoria is currently up in the air, with the museum’s future renewal project undergoing a new in-depth public consultation process, the plan to provide the RBCM with a satellite storage and research facility for its collections in the Victoria suburb of Colwood is going ahead as planned. Construction on a $270 million satellite facility to provide the collections with a seismically safe home will begin later this summer.

Preparations for the July 2023 permanent reopening of Old Town at the Royal BC Museum. (Royal BC Museum)

Preparations for the July 2023 permanent reopening of Old Town at the Royal BC Museum. (Royal BC Museum)

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