Explore Canada’s rich heritage of science and innovation with exclusive access to Ingenium’s one-of-a-kind collection. Join us on May 18 for a special event where we will offer access to the Ingenium Centre to members for the first time.
Only about 12 percent of Ingenium’s total collection is displayed in our three museums at any given time. This is your chance to explore the Ingenium Centre and uncover stories from the collection, venture into the expansive Library and Archives, and engage with our dedicated team of curatorial and conservation experts.
Tours will be self-guided, and we anticipate approximately 60-90 minutes to complete the full circuit. The Ingenium Centre has been designed with accessibility in mind, including gender-inclusive accessible washrooms and elevator access.
What you’ll see
From groundbreaking artifacts spanning soil to space – and everything in between – each item holds a unique story waiting to be discovered.
The Ingenium Collection
Photo credits: CASM Archives CAVM-04504, CAVM-25290 and CAVM-16035; Cliff Wolfe; Cpl Roxanne Shewchuk, Rideau Hall; DND Archives/CKC89-3773; National Research Council, 1975.0336; CSTM Archives CN Images of Canada Collection 39406 and X-05750
Transcript
Canada has a unique geography…. a unique history…. and unique stories.
At Ingenium, we showcase Canada’s stories of science and innovation.
Behind these walls, objects are brought to life by the stories that shape them.
By their creators, their users. By the lessons we can learn from them.
We celebrate those who dare to think differently.
Their stories reflect our nation’s drive to learn, to adapt, to discover, and to create.
Our collection preserves the stories of our nation’s heritage.
We are home to millions of artifacts and archival documents spanning soil to space, and everything in between.
There is no other collection like ours in the world.
It showcases Canada’s instrumental contributions to science and innovation
Artifacts are a gateway to understanding the world in a new way.
What may look like an ordinary water sample is a specimen of the oldest-known flowing water on earth – dating back over a billion years.
We are safeguarding more than the artifacts in our care. We are preserving with respect the stories of their users and their creators.
We embrace the knowledge of equity-deserving communities by collaborating with them to uncover new stories about our collection.
This Algonquin style birch bark canoe dates back centuries. It is an example of master craftsmanship of the Anishinàbeg Algonquin people and represents authenticity, identity, history, culture and language.
The Dome mine carries over 100 years of mining history. Inscriptions on this mine door mark moments in time made important by the miners who left them - from a first snow to historic events.
Spanning transportation, physical sciences, medicine, communications, agriculture, and natural resources, our collection signals wide-reaching impacts – from redefining the way we measure time, to launching modern satellite broadcast technology, increasing access to Canada’s remote Northern areas
Whether the first, the oldest, the largest, or the smallest of their kind, there is no limit to what you can discover in our collection.
Our stories can inspire amazement… a time and place to rediscover Canada’s contribution to the world.
About the Ingenium Centre
The Ingenium Centre is a state-of-the-art facility designed to protect and showcase Canada’s national science and technology collection.
The building provides controlled environments to properly house and protect the national collection’s artifacts and archives, many of which are fragile, easily damaged, and are one-of-a-kind. Located beside the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, the Ingenium Centre is designed to be one of the most accessible artifact and archive collection storage facilities in the world – for museum professionals, heritage researchers, as well as for the public.