The museum is an austere brutalist building, which might not look very welcoming from the outside, but it is in fact a treasure trove with two particular, stunning galleries that are a must-visit in Winnipeg! I spent about 2 hours in the museum and only went through about two-thirds of the exhibits.

Granted, not all of the exhibits are of the same quality. Some of the natural history and ecological exhibits have areas that don’t seem to have been updated in decades, with font styles that echo back to the 1980s, although I actually quite enjoyed seeing it (like travelling back in time) and everything was still exceptionally clean and well-maintained. There are a lot of dioramas, including full-scale landscape recreations, in the museum, which I absolutely loved.

The two must-visit galleries, however, are the Nonsuch Gallery and the Winnipeg Gallery. The Nonsuch Gallery’s centrepiece is a full-size replica of the ship that launched the Hudson’s Bay Company, which you can get on to explore, including descending to the lower deck, which was just fascinating. It also has great sound and light effects. Having been to Hudson’s Bay so many times, it was great to learn about this integral piece of its history that I had never heard of until then. I want to give a shout out to the staff member on duty at the time of my visit – she was highly enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the exhibit, and gave me the amazing recommendation of visiting the 1920s Winnipeg cityscape exhibit, which I might have skipped otherwise because I was running out of time at that point. That brings me to the Winnipeg Gallery with its fantastic 1920s cityscape recreation, which is another must-visit. The exhibit is just big enough for you to be immersed in the surroundings, and it has so many details to explore and some buildings that you can go into. You would really appreciate the amount of thought that has gone into creating this exhibit. It’s the perfect exhibit for the architecture/history/I Spy fan.

The museum also houses a Science Gallery and a Planetarium, which I didn’t visit. However, the Nonsuch and the Winnipeg Galleries alone make the Manitoba Museum a must-visit for anyone in Winnipeg and I think the museum really deserves more recognition!