The ROM is home to one of the world’s most extensive and eclectic collections of art and other cultural and historical objects. The scale of our collection is enormous, with tens of thousands of artifacts from the Cradle of Civilization in the Fertile Crescent, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet, ancient Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, Classical Greece, Ancient Rome, Byzantium, ancient China Japan, Korea, South Asian and more contemporary eras. In a phrase, the entire sweep of human history. A unique portal for understanding human thought and experience globally, the Centre of Discovery for World Art & Culture offers a view of the world through the lens of millennia of visual arts and material culture.
As the product of human invention, the fine arts and design in various media, popular arts, functional objects and the built environment are a direct extension of human thought and experience, shaping and reflecting historical and cultural identities. The work of the Centre is to engage our visitors and help you examine the complex and fascinating histories of different regions and different epochs, and to relate these explorations to our contemporary experience.
