Fortunately and after a great media hermetism, finally it has been confirmed the opening of the cultural enclosure of 82,000 square feet of dimension for October 3, 2018.
As a way to celebrate the new RAM, (Royal Alberta Museum) admission will be free during the first six days, from noon on Wednesday, October 3 until 5 p.m. On Monday, October 8, 2018, to date a total of 41,000 free admission tickets have been distributed to the general public.
The Royal Museum of Alberta preserve the most treasured treasures of the province and the world, a total, 2.4 million pieces were move from the old building to the new site, this transfer and project created about 4000 new jobs positions.
The construction of high ceilings, stone walls, granite floors, controlled air conditioning galleries, reproduction of fossils and animals of real size, is finally built to full.
From its outskirts you can see a large panel of mosaics by the artist Ernestine Tahedl, located right next to the pedestrian boulevard between 103rd Avenue intersection with 99th Street.
The current building is twice as large as its previous location of "Glenora", it is located next to the Saskatchewan River, near the Art Gallery of Alberta, the Citadel Theater of the Center District and the Cultural Center - Conference Room Shaw, so it is expected that these properties become a major tourist attraction and the main one: "Cultural Anchor of the City".
The works began during 2013 with property valued at 375.5 million dollars, investment consisting of 253 million dollars provided by the province and 122.5 million from the Federal Funds.
It should be noted that the Royal Alberta Museum has been formally known as the Provincial Museum of Alberta, this being a Museum of Natural History and Anthropology.
It should be remembered that the original building of the original Museum was located in the Residential District of Glenora and that said facilities were closed on December 7, 2015.
As an information, let me tell you that the origins of the Museum goes back to the year 1950 when the Canadian Federal Government, in its program of "Memories to the Centennial" in conjunction with the Government of Alberta, began to plan the construction of said cultural facility .
After some years, specifically in 1962, Raymond O'Harrison was hired by an Australian architect who had participated in the design of the Maritime Museum of Vancouver.
On this occasion, O'Harrison was granted a property of 5 million dollars, together with a group of workers with the objective of making this project a reality.
After the successful execution of the project, it was able to open its doors to the public on December 6, 1967 with the name: "Provincial Museum of Alberta".
During that opening day, on the first floor there was an exhibition of fur exchange from the native peoples of Alberta along with a famous collection of photographs of aboriginal peoples taken by Ernest Brown and Harry Pollard.
In the same way on the second floor, although the galleries were still incomplete, there were exhibitions of agriculture, the life of the first or pioneer inhabitants of the province, their life, industry and commerce.
The great expansion of the Museum happened during years 1960 and 1970, with an explosive increase of personnel and exhibitions.
Some of the new and more outstanding exhibitions were incorporated in the year 1968. Galleries such as: exhibition of dinosaurs, adaptation and survival of the species were adhered to the area of natural history, in the same way a section of old vehicles of Alberta was incorporated, uniforms of the Royal Mounted Police, and volcano exhibitions.
Now the concept of paid admission began to be implemented in the year 1990, but with the objective of increasing the audience the section of the native gallery was removed and replaced by a fantastic and innovative collection of: "space articles".
During the subsequent years, the galleries continued expanding to sections such as: survival and / or reproduction, the beauty and science of birds, the room of insects, the science gallery of the planet earth, among others.
Between 1989 and 2001, 175 traveling exhibitions were presented at the Museum. Among the most outstanding we can mention: Giant Prehistoric Dinosaurs, Whales bigger than Dinosaurs, Sharks made real and fantasy, Syria Earth of Civilizations, and the beautiful and impressive annual presentations of the best photographers of the year.
A milestone of great importance happened in 2005 during the Centennial year of Alberta, at which time Queen Elizabeth II visited and toured the galleries of the Museum.
As you can see then, the Museum is much more than a collection of old items for the province, but rather it has set precedents and is part of its history and culture.
They say that man does not live by bread alone and that he better live by honoring education and culture, preserving the history of the province and of humanity.
Please, do not miss this fantastic opportunity to travel in time through the different exhibitions of perfectly preserved fossils that the Royal Museum of Alberta has prepared for you.