Museum of Vancouver

The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) is the oldest museum in Vancouver and the largest civic museum in Canada. It is an independent, nonprofit organization that was founded in 1894, but went through a number of changes before it was finally named the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) in 2009. The museum is located in Vanier Park – only a 5-minute drive from downtown Vancouver. MOV is also easily accessible by city transit and False Creek Ferries. The Museum of Vancouver is dedicated to providing a deeper understanding of Vancouver through artifacts, displays, and shared experiences of people in the past. At the museum, you can expect to see Indigenous artifacts, vintage home appliances, and life-like mannequins in period clothing. You can also expect to read displays about Vancouver’s history from the early days to the war years and up to the near-present-day times. There is also a popular collection of old signs from when Vancouver had one of the highest concentrations of neon advertising in North America. The museum has divided different eras into separate rooms, making for a chronologically-clear walk-through of the city's historical timeline, starting off with the indigenous people and their tribes, and ending up in a room focusing on the 70's. The displays, objects and photographs collectively provide an excellent history of our beautiful city.