Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum

Iqaluit's small museum is housed in a wooden building with a story of its own. The Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum occupies a former Hudson's Bay Company staff house, a plain two-storey structure originally built in the early 20th century at Apex, a hillside community a few kilometres from the main town, and later moved to its present location in Iqaluit. The museum's name, in Inuktitut, is usually understood to refer to the heritage of the land and its people, and the place has long been a point of contact between visitors and the culture of the Inuit of Baffin Island.

Iqaluit itself is the capital of Nunavut, the territory created in 1999 out of the eastern part of the old Northwest Territories, and Inuit make up the great majority of its residents. The town was once known as Frobisher Bay, after the 16th-century English explorer Martin Frobisher, and it adopted the name Iqaluit, meaning place of many fish, in the late 1980s. The museum reflects this long history, from the first peoples who lived on the land to the modern city.

Inside, the collections concentrate on the material culture of the Inuit and their ancestors. Displays include traditional hunting tools such as harpoons and bone and ivory implements, the clothing made from caribou and sealskin that kept people alive in extreme cold, and the skillful sewing and design that went into it. Archaeological items from the Thule and earlier Dorset peoples show how long people have lived in the region. Art is another strength, with soapstone and bone carvings, prints and textiles by Nunavut artists, and the quality of the Inuit art tradition is easy to appreciate at close range. Exhibits are labelled in English and Inuktitut, and staff are glad to talk about what visitors see.

A museum of this kind is a society museum, run by a community organisation with limited resources, and its hours and programmes are modest and may vary by season. Check before visiting, and call ahead if you plan to come in the shoulder seasons. The building is small, and a visit takes under an hour, though people who like to read every label can stay longer.

Many travellers pair it with St. Jude's Cathedral and a walk to Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park, on the river on the edge of town. Visitors are asked to treat the objects with respect and to ask before taking photographs. The museum suits anyone wanting to understand the Arctic through the voices and craft of the people who live there.