New ‘immersive’ exhibit offers guests a digital peek inside Parliament

The Library of Parliament has launched a brand new digital tour of Parliament Hill to provide guests a glimpse of the Commons and Senate chambers whereas they’re being renovated.

A visit to Parliament is a necessary cease for a lot of guests to Canada’s capital. However far fewer folks have had the chance since December 2018, when the historic dwelling of the Home of Commons and Senate closed for a decade of in depth renovations.

Even members of Parliament elected since 2019 have solely ever labored within the short-term Home of Commons chamber situated subsequent door in West Block.

Now, the Library of Parliament is hoping to provide the general public a really feel for the constructing and its chambers with a brand new exhibit known as “Parliament: The Immersive Expertise.”

“We knew there’d be an entire era of Canadians and guests to Canada which will by no means have an opportunity to stroll by means of these doorways into Centre Block, such a historic constructing in Canada’s historical past,” mentioned Renee Asselin, a senior mission officer with the Library of Parliament.

“It is a possibility for Canadians to attach with Parliament … [with] why it is vital in our lives, and to know that there are issues that occur in these buildings that have an effect on us on a day-to-day foundation.”

The primary cease on the tour is a museum-style room with dioramas and interactive shows exploring the position of Canada’s Parliament and its historical past. Curators say they hope it is going to put together guests for the second half of the exhibit — once they’re taken into a big, darkish room with 360-degrees of video projection for a digital tour of Centre Block.

The tour takes guests by means of the limestone arches from the Corridor of Honour and previous the Library of Canada — with its majestic white marble statue of Queen Victoria — the Senate and the Home of Commons, all positioned simply as they’re in the true world.

Whereas the narrated video tour highlights the gorgeous architectural particulars, it additionally touches on a number of the darker occasions and points parliamentarians have grappled by means of the a long time — together with two world wars, the Chinese language head tax and residential colleges.

“A whole lot of the subject material is maybe not as majestic because the expertise itself, however [it] nonetheless kinds Canada’s historical past,” Asselin mentioned. “It is vital that we proceed to debate these issues and produce them to the forefront to permit us to proceed to talk about them and make sure that our historical past is represented in [the] means that it occurred over time.

The Library of Canada pegs the price of this new exhibition at $2.8 million and says it could actually accommodate as much as 200,000 folks annually — nonetheless wanting the roughly 350,000 guests Parliament acquired yearly earlier than Centre Block closed to the general public.

Guided excursions of the Senate Constructing and the present Home of Commons in West Block are nonetheless provided, however solely on days Parliament is not sitting.

As with the guided excursions on the Hill, guests e book free tickets for the immersive expertise in both French or English. The video portion additionally operates with signal language and closed captioning.