Gardiner Museum, Ceramics museum in Toronto, Canada.
The museum occupies approximately 4,300 square meters across multiple levels with galleries dedicated to different ceramic traditions ranging from pre-Columbian American pottery to European porcelain works representing several millennia of craftsmanship.
George and Helen Gardiner opened the museum on 6 March 1984 after difficulties arranging a display at the Royal Ontario Museum. The ROM managed it from 1987 until a further endowment let it reincorporate as an independent institution on 1 January 1997. A C$25 million renovation by KPMB Architects closed the building from 2004 to 2006, and a further renovation of the ground floor and permanent galleries ran from 2024 to late 2025.
The museum's name honours founders George and Helen Gardiner, who began collecting in the 1980s after difficulties exhibiting at the Royal Ontario Museum. A volunteer committee drawn from ROM volunteers was formed in 1983, and public tours of the exhibits began in spring 1985. The 2024-2025 renovation created the museum's first gallery permanently dedicated to Indigenous ceramics.
The ground level houses a cafe and museum shop while the Gail Brooker Ceramic Research Library containing approximately 2,500 volumes on ceramics is accessible to researchers and interested visitors through the University of Toronto Library System.
The 2024–2025 renovation of the ground floor and permanent collection galleries created the museum's first gallery permanently dedicated to Indigenous ceramics. The building itself, completed in 1983 at a cost of C$6 million, was designed by Keith Wagland and later re-clad in Indiana limestone and black granite by KPMB Architects.
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