Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) Museum

This chamber in the Military Museum of Alberta focuses on Lord Strathcona, and his role is sending Canadian troops to South Africa from his personal funds. It's a great place to learn about that conflict and the role that the Canadians played in its outcome.

Awesome story told for and by men and women who gave their all!

Great museum. Well laid out, great aviation curation. Fantastic static displays. Kid friendly yet interesting to adults

This is quite possibly the best military museum I've been to. It's got a great combination of Army, Navy, and Air Force displays mixed with explanations and real-world stories. It is incredibly well-done. The docents are more than willing to answer questions and share experiences. Plan to spend a couple hours here if you visit. Very impressive!

Great museum to view Calgary military artifacts. They have tanks and planes as will that you can climb up to view the interior. They also have a lot of memorabilia add well as displays set up of how they used to live back in the day. They had the cutest small model displays of the war zones and some even have light effects for the gun fire. Great learning experience for someone who wants to learn about another countries military system.

Really cool little museum of Calgary military history with quite a bit to see. There is a Cold War exhibit right now with some war planes that were really cool to look at. As an American with family in and from Canada, I appreciated the Canadian perspective of the wars my family fought and din.

I have been here twice and have never been disappointed with each visit. This is an excellent place to learn about the Canadian Armed Forces from the 1800's to modern day with a lot of artifacts, tanks, jeeps, firearms, helmets, and so on. Before you enter the museum there are some tanks and halftracks outside that you can go on and take pictures with. Upon entering there is a full life size world war 2 set up were they have a tank driving through a building with soldiers in full uniforms and all, quite the site to see. There is also a world war 1 trench that you can walk through and it is very eerie as they made it true to life with flashes going off to simulate artillery, dark cloud, a periscope to look through, and even a soldier entangled in barbed wire. Excellent education meseum for all as I learned a ton of information on the walk through

This was well worth the visit. Very interesting exhibits and helpful docents. It's Army, Navy and Air Force, all in one!

Early August we took our 10 year old nephew to visit this museum. My husband enjoys military displays and we have been to this one several times. We really enjoy the displays of various combat scenes with life like soldiers, the tanks displayed inside and outside as well. Several realistic displays are like movie set displays and have sound effects and light displays. We also got to see various planes, weapons , missiles, etc. Took us several hours to walk through and enjoy everything ! Our nephew even got to climb up on a fighter plane on a stairway to the cockpit for pictures, stand by a huge ocean mine, missiles , etc. Amazing place that everyone should go check out!

I've driven by The Military Museums a thousand times but it never occured to me that this would be something to do with my kids. With their mother's blessing, and help from a deal on TeamBuy, I decide to escape the 4 feet of snow and test the museum out. My children are aged between 7 and 12 years old and I am amazed to say that each of them had an awesome time. It was educational AND entertaining. I could imagine spending an entire day there myself and still find myself coming back again. It gave me a greater appreciation of historical as well as current sacrifices that are made on a daily basis. If you are looking for an inexpensive activity for the whole family I would highly recommend The Military Museums.

I have visited the Imperial War Museum in London, England, the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, and have to say, with a little bit of admitted bias, that this museum compares extremely favourably. The reason the museum has managed to do so well is its focus; it began life as a regimental museum for four Calgary-based Army regiments. The main part of the museum continues in that capacity, recently adding galleries representing the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force. Each gallery benefits from its own group of curators and custodians, and tells a unique story. The RCN gallery was transferred from the Naval Museum of Alberta and is not just a transplant thrown on, but has a long history of its own and is really a separate museum. The RCAF display also has a long independent history and genesis. All are now under a single roof. The galleries are all world-class presentations that are a mix of conventional artifact presentations (read: uniforms and medals under glass), interpretive exhibits using video and audio, miniature dioramas, and full-size vignettes using uniforms, equipment and vehicles (there is a Sherman tank right inside the foyer, and parts of other vehicles built right into other displays, letting you walk inside a C-130 carrying paratroopers, or hunker behind an M113 armoured personnel carrier in Serbia). The four regiments that are the centrepiece of the Army museum are a balanced mix of two armoured regiments and two infantry regiments, divided between the regular and reserve force, giving a unique perspective of service life in Alberta over the last 100 years or so, including their service in the Boer War, the world wars, Korea, and various UN and NATO missions including Afghanistan. This only scratches the surface of what is available, as there is also an outdoor armoured vehicle park, rotating displays, a modest gift shop, and full-blown library and archives for researchers, as well as planned activities for kid's groups, volunteer guides, and more. In the interest of full disclosure, I am the webmaster for one of the regiments represented in the Army galleries, though I hold no position with the museum itself. The galleries are in a constant state of upgrade and improvement as grants and donations become available, and as with any professional museum, the majority of holdings are in storage, in concert with the mandate of conservation - meaning many good things are yet to come as far as public displays, as funds become available to finance these projects. The museum tells important chapters of Calgary and Canadian history, and in compelling fashion.

What an awesome stop! MUST DO, add it to your list, you will not be disappointed. We learned a lot about Canadian history.

What can I saw amazing and leaves you in deep thoughts Lots of History that tells a Story !!! Super cool Exhibits and the Museum is super organized and clean the staff are super friendly!!!! What can I say superb defiantly 10 out of 10!!!

I'm not a fan of war history, but this museum should be visited by everyone at least once. What makes it fascinating is the war veteran tour guides. If you are a youthful person such as myself, you may think you don't want to be lead around by a senior citizen, but it's well worth your time. I heard some unbelievable stories and having things explained to you just makes sense. There are some particularly cool artifacts and I'm glad I brought my camera.

An incredible experience. The displays were so lifelike you felt the pain of the soldiers in the display. We learned much about Canadian military history. The museum volunteers, retired military, were very helpful. The Canadian military have certainly throughout the last two hundred years answered the call. If in Calgary, this should be a must stop.

The museum is interesting, but if you look at any exhibit the wrong way you apparently set off some type of alarm and they come bitching at you every five minutes. We were apparently setting off alarms by just pointing at things. It kind of ruins the experience.

This is among the best military museums we have visited. The staff were very friendly and helpful and made us feel welcome. The displays were all very well done. We spent three hours and time flew by!

I was kinda iffy about going here, having been severely disappointed by the air museum near the airport years ago when I lived in Calgary. But wow, this place was pretty well done. Although not a very comprehensive view of the Canadian military (a little disappointing given it calls itself a museum of the Canadian Forces), it covers Calgary's contribution quite extensively. I was a little annoyed that the PPCLI gallery was closed for their upcoming anniversary. The gift shop was very dinky, although I'm glad I bought my Canadian Forces roundel tshirt. I hope they add cap brasses and shoulder flashes as an item for sale there. Although I was Army, I have to admit the Naval gallery seemed the best done, especially considering their collection of rare carrier aircraft from Canada's only aircraft carrier.. The collection of armored vehicles outside was truly impressive, including a Sherman Firefly, a Churchill and what looked like an ex-iraqi T-62. Got some good pictures, so I'm happy. Would definitely go back if I was in the area again.