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Photo: Bytownmuseum, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A small museum at the foot of Parliament Hill with a focus on Ottawa's early history.
The Bytown Museum is a museum in Ottawa located in the Colonel By Valley at the Ottawa Locks of the Rideau Canal on the Ottawa River, just below Parliament Hill. Housed in the Commissariat Building, Ottawa's oldest remaining stone building, the museum provides a comprehensive overview of the origins of Bytown and its development and growth into the present city of Ottawa.
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When the temperatures are at their coldest, go skating on the largest outdoor skating rink in the world, the Rideau Canal. Skates, sleighs and ice "tricycles" can be rented, and refreshments purchased from vendors right on the ice. This is also a great place to enjoy a "BeaverTail" (see the listing under "Eat"). Rest areas with heated changerooms, washrooms, firepits, picnic tables, snacks and warm drinks are on the ice at various points. At the end of the boating season, the canal is drained, stairs, chalets, and temporary structures lifed in, and the water level raised just enough to provide .3 m of ice thickness. The ice surface is at the bottom of the canal, so it can only be accessed where stairs or ramps have been installed. Professinonal crews plow snow, fill cracks, and maintain the ice surface around the clock as soon as the ice is thick enough. The "skateway" can stretch for 7.8 km from the locks next to Parliament Hill to Carleton University, though some sections may be closed if ice conditions are too poor. It's possible to walk along the skateway if you want to visit a fire pit or snack bar. The ice surface is open 24 hours every day, but the vendors and amenities close in the evening. The 2023 season was cancelled due to high temperatures.
Photography, traditional and modern art from Canadian and international artists. Housed inside a glass building with a giant spider structure on the outside.
Downtown park, designated as a National Historic Site of Canada, featuring a fountain, totem pole, statues.
Canada's commemorative and collectable coinage is minted here (circulation coinage is minted in Winnipeg), as were the medals for the 2010 Olympics. Tours are available, and there is no charge if you only want to visit the boutique.
A quiet place to watch the sun set, or to take photos of Parliament Hill, the National Gallery, the Museum of History, and the Royal Canadian Mint from angles that don't usually end up in the tourist brochures. Kiwekì (pronounced key-WHECK-ee) Point is also home to a statue of Samuel de Champlain, and the Astrolabe Theatre (one of the better places to watch the fireworks from on July 1). As of May 2025, the point is wheelchair-accessible.