The Rooms

I visited a few weeks ago with my child and had a great time. The WWI exhibit for the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was well put together and very informative. They had also many activities for children throughout. It was interesting to see all the Canada Games medals in the archives area. The view of the harbour was great too.

We visited The Rooms in St. John's, yesterday.nIt was Canada Day, and entry was free — we didn’t know that in advance, so it was a nice surprise!nThe place was beautiful and very interesting. It includes two art galleries and three museum sections.nIf you enjoy museums, this is definitely a place you'll love. To explore everything properly and take your time reading through the exhibits, expect to spend at least two hours or more.nThe washrooms were clean, and the gift shop was lovely, it had a great selection of local products at reasonable prices, which isn’t always the case in museum gift shops.nHighly recommended for anyone visiting St. John's!

A great experience. Loved the way it was set up. Museum and art and archives. Lots of displays on history of the area and the indigenous people. Well done. Enjoyed the section on the War effort and how it affected the Area. Great displays of uniforms and many photos. There was a Manders O’Bryne who played music for almost the entire time we were there. He was wonderful. Added a lot to the experience since we could hear him all through the museum.

As many have said this is a fantastic place to see the history of Newfoundland. There is lots of see, we visited twice to make sure we saw all the exhibitions.nnThe building is wonderful also, situated on the hilltop with wonderful views over the water.nnApart from the early history and the story of the Irish visitors, there is also the exhibition of the WWI experience. This exhibition was amazing and so personal. There are detailed records of the young men that went to war and photographs and artifacts of many of them. Indeed Newfoundland made a huge sacrifice and had terrible losses. Very sobering visit but we should not forget what war does to real people.nnThis is a real gem in the Newfoundland crown, do visit.

A fantastic museum. Art, history, and natural history all rolled into one in a fantastic building.nnCouple of things to know: backpacks are not allowed to be worn you can carry them but they cannot be on your back in the galleries and, while they do have free lockers, they are limited in number and first come first serve. I arrived just before 11 on a Tuesday and there were lots of lockers left but there was a post lunch rush as I was leaving and it looked like they had run out. So I suggest arriving early or reducing what you are carrying with you.nnThere are 4 floors connected by stairways but almost everything is accessible by elevator there are a couple of areas that are sort of alcoves positioned mid stair.nnSome older displays have some outdated language but they are aware and are working on it.nnGreat views of the harbour from the 3rd floor sitting area and the observation deck on 4.nnOnly complaint is that I was walking and while it seems most everything is in walking distance from where we were staying waterfront area it is, unfortunately at the top of a hill. I am a Prairie person and while I can walk all day in Winnipeg, elevation just kills me. If you could move the museum to the bottom of the hill that would be great.