More than 66,000 Visitors Enjoy New Dinosaur Galleries
(Toronto, Ontario – January 7, 2008) The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Canada’s largest museum combining both world cultures and natural history, announces that it has received record attendance numbers during its recent ROM for the Holidays season, between December 26, 2007 and January 6, 2008. Through this period, 66,149 visitors enjoyed the new James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs and the Gallery of the Age of Mammals, the first permanent exhibits inside the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, as well as the final few days of the ROM’s Season of Canada programming.
Average daily attendance reached 6,014, the highest the Museum has experienced for this annual program and the highest daily average since the June 2007 Architectural Opening of the Lee-Chin Crystal. On Friday, December 28th, the holidays’ busiest day, the ROM welcomed 10, 176 visitors.
The demand for ROM Memberships was also higher than ever, with over 2,200 new members signing up during ROM for the Holidays, bringing the total number of Member households to almost 31,000, another record for the ROM, comprising some 57,000 adults plus their children. ROM Membership is a great value; for more information visit: www.rom.on.ca/members/
“It is gratifying to see the public embrace these wonderful new galleries, which offer so much more about dinosaurs, mammals and other life forms than ever before,” said William Thorsell, ROM Director and CEO. “The next months will see the unveiling of six additional, fascinating galleries that speak to the ROM's broad reach and considerable depth.”
Critical reviews of the new galleries have been very positive: "Daniel Libeskind's Crystal gives (the ROM's dinosaur specimens) their dream home: a whirling, curving, light-filled space that's part Jurassic Park and part luxury condo," said the Toronto Star. “The new displays should also appeal to some of the ROM's most discerning and knowledgeable dinosaur fans: children," wrote the Globe and Mail.
The remaining permanent galleries of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal will open in early 2008. The final phase of the Renaissance ROM project will continue with the renovation of several galleries in the historic wings of the Museum, expected to be complete in 2010.
Upcoming Gallery Openings:
February 16, 2008
Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery
Wirth Gallery of the Middle East (both Lee-Chin Crystal, Level 3 west)
April 5, 2008
Shreyas and Mina Ajmera Gallery of Africa, Americas and Asia-Pacific (Lee-Chin Crystal, Level 3 east)
Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles and Costume (Lee-Chin Crystal, Level 4 east)
December 2008
Teck Cominco Suite of Earth Sciences Galleries (Weston Family Wing, Level 2)
Early 2009
Schad Family Gallery of Biodiversity: Life in Crisis (Centre Block, Level 2)
Upcoming Special Exhibitions:
March 8, 2008
Darwin: The Evolution Revolution
May 3, 2008
Shanghai Kaleidoscope, presented by the Institute for Contemporary Culture
October 25, 2008
Diamonds
November 29, 2008
Ancient Ukraine: Mysteries of the Trypillian Culture