Royal Ontario Museum’s Rotunda

The ceiling is made from thousands of sheets of imported Venetian glass, cut into more than a million tiny coloured squares. A team of skilled workers laboured for eight months to install the ceiling. Its sparkling gold, rust and bronze background is inset with red, blue and turquoise patterns, recalling the magnificent mosaics of the Byzantine world and Eastern Europe. Worked out on the golden field are geometrical borders and panels which frame decorative floral designs. The central panel is inscribed with a passage from the Book of Job in the Old Testament: “That all men may know his work”  (ROM website)
The ceiling is made from thousands of sheets of imported Venetian glass, cut into more than a million tiny coloured squares. A team of skilled workers laboured for eight months to install the ceiling. Its sparkling gold, rust and bronze background is inset with red, blue and turquoise patterns, recalling the magnificent mosaics of the Byzantine world and Eastern Europe. Worked out on the golden field are geometrical borders and panels which frame decorative floral designs. The central panel is inscribed with a passage from the Book of Job in the Old Testament: “That all men may know his work” (ROM website)

Toronto’s ROM is celebrating 100 years.  It first opened in March 1914 and throughout 2014 will be celebrating this milestone anniversary in grand style.  On May 3rd and 4th, they opened their doors to the public for ROM Revealed and I was there with many others to be part of this wonderful event.   “ROM Revealed offers a rare opportunity to go behind-the-scenes and explore the areas of the Museum traditionally not open to the public, including the ROM’s DNA lab, its collections vaults, antler room, its 6 floors of Curatorial Centres and much more.”   

The Rotunda area is an amazing space to be in and the ceiling is out of this world.  I took many images that day and hope you enjoy the ones here in this post that I’m sharing with you.  As the old saying goes – “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

The Rotunda, dedicated in honour of Ernest and Elizabeth Samuel, is the Museum’s ceremonial entrance hall. It features one of the Museum’s most magnificent architectural treasures—a spectacular mosaic dome that has fascinated generations of staff and visitors. Charles T. Currelly, the first director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, conceived of this mosaic introduction for the 1933 addition. The mosaic ceiling was designed to reflect the breadth of the collections, being adorned with patterns and symbols representing cultures throughout the ages and around the world.
The Rotunda, dedicated in honour of Ernest and Elizabeth Samuel, is the Museum’s ceremonial entrance hall. It features one of the Museum’s most magnificent architectural treasures—a spectacular mosaic dome that has fascinated generations of staff and visitors.  Charles T. Currelly, the first director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, conceived of this mosaic introduction for the 1933 addition. The mosaic ceiling was designed to reflect the breadth of the collections, being adorned with patterns and symbols representing cultures throughout the ages and around the world.  (ROM website)

Druxy’s has a ROM cafe in the Rotunda area and is a lovely place for something to eat and drink.  My pictures just show parts of the ceiling and give a general idea of the area. You really have to be there to see all of it.

ROM rotunda ( with stained glass showing)

There’s a lovely set of stained glass windows in the Rotunda area and this just gives an idea of how beautiful they really are and how they enhance the ambience there.

ROM Rotunda area (with stained glass)

My last collage is a kind of hodge-podge of what I experienced that day.  Hope you enjoyed this post!

ROM Revealed (2)

 

Encyclopedia Britannica’s information on rotunda:  rotunda,  in Classical and Neoclassical architecture, building or room within a building that is circular or oval in plan and covered with a dome. The ancestor of the rotunda was the tholus (tholos) of ancient Greece, which was also circular but was usually shaped like a beehive above.