Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Nitobe Memorial Garden, a beautiful Japanese garden.
© iStockphoto.com / Karen Massier
particularly at sunset; fi nally, Pacifi c
Spirit Regional Park
is a 763ha
parcel of land that boasts more than
40km of hiking and biking trails.
A highlight of the museum is the
sculpture
Raven and the First Men
by
renowned Haida artist Bill Reid, who
died in 1998. This impressive yellow
cedar piece depicts the Raven, an in-
famous trickster in Haida history, coax-
ing fearful human beings out of a clam
shell after a great fl ood. This huge piece
was lowered into the museum through
the skylight above it. The museum's
outdoor exhibit, a 19th-century Haida
house complex, is another must-see.
The University of British Columbia
(UBC)
has occupied the West Side's
westernmost tip area since 1925. To this
day, the UBC campus is constantly ex-
panding, so its somewhat heterogen-
eous appearance should not be sur-
prising. The campus is home to the su-
perb Museum of Anthropology
,
which is not to be missed both for
the quality of the Aboriginal artwork
on display and for the architecture of
Arthur Erickson. Erickson designed
the Great Hall with big concrete posts
and beams to imitate the shape of trad-
itional Aboriginal houses. Inside are im-
mense totem poles gathered from for-
mer Aboriginal villages along the coast
and on the islands.
On the edge of the West Mall is the
Asian Centre, capped with a big pyr-
amidal metal roof. It houses the depart-
ment of Asian studies and an exhibition
centre. Behind the building is the mag-
nifi cent Nitobe Memorial Garden
which symbolically faces Japan on the
other side of the Pacifi c.
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