…the Maritime Museum

The Maritime Museum of BC has been a fixture in Victoria since 1955. First located in Esquimalt (on the naval base), and then moving to Bastion Square in 1965. The Museum is now slated to move to the old CPR Steamship Terminal (the old site of the Wax Museum). But we don’t know for sure if it will move, as there seem to be difficulties around it securing a long-term lease in the building.

Some interesting notes:

• The Museum building in Bastion Square is the old Supreme Court Building, built in 1889, and closed in 1962
• The elevator in the Museum building is (was?) the oldest operating elevator in Victoria
• The Maritime Museum building in Bastion Square is known for its ghost(s), due to it being the site of the city’s first gallows (and supposedly hanged men are still buried beneath the old hanging site)

This time there is a very good reason for me NOT taking interior shots of the museum: it’s no longer there. But I have included a picture of its supposed new home, the CPR Steamship Terminal. We’ll see what happens…

Bastion Square

The old Supreme Court building – no ghosts sighted this morning

The remains of the Maritime Museum in Bastion Square

The obligatory plaques associated with the building and museum

Websites of Interest

• The Maritime Museum: http://mmbc.bc.ca/
• The Maritime Museum is on the move: http://www.timescolonist.com/victoria-s-maritime-museum-is-on-the-move-1.1431599
• Maritime Museum future uncertain: http://www.vicnews.com/news/295076461.html
• The Maritime Museum at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Museum_of_BC
• Bastion Square history of the Courthouse: http://bastionsquare.ca/bastion-square-history/legal-professional-era-1889-1961/
• Ghosts of Bastion Square: http://www.vanisleparanormal.ca/bastion-square-and-helmcken-alley/

Part of the April A to Z Challenge.