The old Canadian War Museum building on Sussex Drive

The new Canadian War Museum, under construction at Lebreton Flats

Since September 6 2004, the museum has been closed to the public pending a move to a new location. The museum was formerly located on Sussex Drive next to the Royal Canadian Mint and the National Gallery of Canada. This location was quite small and much of the Museum's collection had to be stored at a west-end warehouse known as Vimy House, which used to be Ottawa's streetcar garage.

The new building is under construction at Lebreton Flats just west of Parliament Hill. It will be far more modern and will be large enough to allow the museum to display more of its artifacts. The new Museum will open in May 2005. Its architecture was designed to mimic a bunker, and the small and large windows on the part of the roof that spikes up spell out Lest we forget and N'oublions jamais (the French equivalent) in Morse code. The copper used on the inside of the building is from the roof of the Library of Parliament which was refurbished in 2004.

The Canadian War Museum has a large collection with artifacts from early colonial times up to the Gulf War and Peacekeeping. Perhaps the Museum's most famous possession is Hitler's personal Mercedes limousine. The Museum also has a very extensive collection of war art .

The museum traces its history back to 1880 when a small museum in the Drill Hall at Cartier Square was founded by Militia officers of the then Ottawa garrison. After many years as part of the Public Archives, the collection became the foundation of the Canadian War Museum in 1942. In 1958 the museum became part of the National Museum of Canada. Today, the museum is part of the Museum of Civilization Corporation , which also runs the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian Children's museum and the Canadian Postal Museum .

The three most recent heads of the War Museum are:

• Victor Suthren 1986-1998
• Jack Granatstein 1998-2001
• Joe Geurts 2001-

See also: Military history of Canada

External links

• Official web site