On the museum’s outdoor welcome plaza stands a red cedar welcome figure holding a fisher (an animal believed to have healing powers). This and other contemporary work, including a stylized mosaic of colored granite, were created by Musqueam artist Susan Point.

These massive doors were carved out of red cedar in 1976 by master Gitxsan First Nations artists from the ‘Ksan cultural center. They depict the history of the first people of the Skeena River region in British Columbia.

These boxes, which can be used for cooking as well as storage, are made in a very special way. The four sides are composed of one piece of cedar, which is notched in three places, steamed, and bent to form the shape of the box before the base is attached.

One of the blankets on display was woven using sheep’s wool by Robyn and Debra Sparrow of the Musqueam First Nation (1997). Weaving is an important art form for Salish peoples, re-vitalized as a practice in the 1960s by several First Nations women.

The centerpiece of the Koerner Ceramics Gallery is a stove from Central or Eastern Europe, circa 1500–1600. Its lead-glazed tiles (from which heat would emanate after being stoked) depict popular religious figures of the time.

Showcased beneath the 49-ft (15-m) glass walls of the Great Hall are towering totem poles from many First Nations. The glass and concrete structure of the hall provides a perfect setting for the poles.

This massive sculpture, carved from a block of 106 laminated yellow cedar planks by Haida artist Bill Reid, is one of the most famous carvings in the world. It depicts the figure of Raven (a wise and powerful yet mischievous trickster) discovering the first Haida humans and coaxing them out into the world from a giant clamshell.

Housed in the classical Greek and Roman pottery collection, this cup was made in Greece, circa 540–530 B.C. It is attributed to the “Centaur Painter,” one of a group of artists known for decorating scores of drinking cups used by men of Athens at famous (and also sometimes notorious) symposia or loud drinking parties.

These ornate necklaces form part of the museum’s founding collection of South Pacific materials, donated to the museum in 1927 by Canadian explorer Frank Burnett.

Two full-size Haida Houses stand outside this fascinating museum, overlooking the water, surrounded by a forest of soaring, full-scale totem poles. They were designed in 1962 by contemporary Haida artist Bill Reid and Namgis artist Doug Cramer and make for a breathtaking sight.