Culture

The oldest natural history museum in western Canada, the Banff Park Museum is housed in a monumental 1903 log building in downtown Banff, Alberta. The museum holds more than 5,000 natural history specimens collected from the park around the early 1900s. This turn-of-the-century taxidermy collection continues to thrill visitors curious about the mammals, birds, insects and fish found in the Canadian Rockies.

The museum offers a unique chance to get up-close with some of the park’s iconic wildlife, while also glimpsing a Victorian-era take on natural history. The gorgeous architecture of the museum is an attraction in itself: huge logs of Douglas fir with large windows and lofty ceilings.