Toronto Star

The steel-toed boots don't make it easy, but visitors must tread carefully these days at the Royal Ontario Museum. Halfway through its $211 million renovation and remake, the venerable Toronto institution has reached the point where workmen in hard hats are toiling beside conservators in white lab coats. Crews from Germany assemble display cases next to a Chinese team replicating a section of a historic imperial palace. Nearby, heavy equipment is parked next to priceless Ming artifacts that date back centuries. A forklift sits beside a pair of ancient tomb guardians that gaze indifferently on their surroundings. But those surroundings are changing fast. Located in the oldest part of the museum, the 1911 west wing, these carved stone guardians will soon be ensconced in a soaring, light-filled space of remarkable transparency. Though much public attention has been focused on the Daniel Libeskind addition, the Crystal, that multifaceted study in angularity that will soon become the new face of the ROM, the rebuilding process also includes full restoration of the museum's two original wings, east and west, which are being returned to something approaching their former glory.