Royal Ontario Museum

Royal Ontario Museum review

Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the architect behind Berlin's Jewish Museum and Manchester's Imperial War Museum North, the glass-and-steel structure is, depending on your point of view, either a grand gesture or a God-awful folly. Still, it has kicked some life into the cultural scene and will draw more visitors to one of Canada's greatest museums.

Though it's known for its enormous Chinese collection, the museum surveys everything from natural history to human culture. Kids will love the bat cave, dinosaurs and mummies, not to mention the totem poles beside the main entrance. Adults may prefer the indigenous peoples' collections. For a literary view, read Margaret Atwood's Life Before Man, which features the ROM as the backdrop.