Canadian Museum of Nature

Canadian Museum of Nature

Musée canadien de la nature
Exterior of the Victoria Memorial Museum Building
Established	1856 (1856)[note 1]
Location	240 McLeod Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada 1740 Chemin Pink, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada[note 2]
Coordinates	45°24′46″N 75°41′20″W / 45.41266°N 75.68875°W / 45.41266; -75.68875
Type	Natural history museum
Visitors	461,797 (FY2018–19)[1]
President	Danika Goosney[2]
Chairperson	Karen Dodds[2]
Curator	Jean-Marc Gagnon (Chief Scientist)[3]
Website	nature.ca

The Canadian Museum of Nature (French: Musée canadien de la nature; CMN) is a national natural history museum based in Canada's National Capital Region. The museum's exhibitions and public programs are housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, a 18,910-square-metre structure (203,500 sq ft) in Ottawa, Ontario. The museum's administrative offices and scientific centres are housed at a separate location, the Natural Heritage Campus, in Gatineau, Quebec.

The museum originated from a museum established by the Geological Survey of Canada in 1856. Initially based in Montreal, the museum relocated to downtown Ottawa in 1881. In 1911, the museum relocated to the Victoria Memorial Museum Building. Initially, a natural history museum, the institution later expanded to include an anthropology and human history department; with the institution renamed the National Museum of Canada in 1927. The departments of the national museum were later split into separate national institutions, with the natural history department forming the National Museum of Natural Sciences in 1968. The museum adopted its current name in 1990 after it was made its own autonomous crown corporation. From 2004 to 2010, the museum renovated and expanded the Victoria Memorial Museum Building.

The museum's collection contains over 14.6 million specimens of the natural world, several of which are displayed in its permanent exhibitions. The museum also hosts and organizes several travelling exhibitions and supports and conducts several research programs relating to natural history.

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