Victoria's "Greatest Little Show on Earth"

We decided to play Gulliver and visit Lilliput…or you could picture us falling down the rabbit hole with Alice.

In Victoria, located on the north side of the Empress Hotel, you will find Miniature World, dubbed as “The Greatest Little Show on Earth.” It has over 85 little models, including the world’s smallest operation sawmill, one of the world’s longest miniature railways, and one of the world’s largest dollhouses circa 1880 with rooms beautifully furnished in exquisite detail.

This little paradise has something for everyone, whether you’re into dolls, castles, fairy tales, toy soldiers, airplanes, history, circuses, model trains, or nursery rhymes.

Its exhibits – King Arthur’s Camelot, Valley of Castles, Fantasyland, Space 2201, Classic Car Rally, Great Canadian Railway, Frontierland, Little Mill’s Lumber Company, Modern London, Olde London Towne of 1670 , The World of Dickens, Fields of Glory, World of Dollhouses, Swiss Family Robinson, and Circus World – will certainly bring anyone back to his childhood memory lane, back to the stories our parents and grandparents read to us, or to the imaginary worlds we created at playtime, or even to faraway lands we visited in our daydreams.

It was fun to see the tiny displays and admire how the creators were able to incorporate designs in each miniscule piece. The dioramas were all exquisitely detailed, well-thought out, and highly accurate. The diminutive landscapes were perfect recreations of the scenes and worlds they were trying to portray. And to make the experience with these tiny treasures thoroughly immersive, they have also added special effects – lighting, sounds, background music, and even animation activated by a push of a button.

We each had our favourites. Mine was the World of Dollhouses that depicted the lifestyle in Victorian England, each segmented room meticulously furnished and equipped with scaled down versions of ornate objects, from gilded mirrors and chandeliers, grand staircases and fireplaces, stained glass doorways and striking floor tiles, to rich velvet drapes, upholstered chairs, and decorative wallpapers. I had always imagined living in an old Victorian house and sipping tea with the likes of Beatrix Potter and even Queen Victoria herself. My husband liked Space 2201 the most, which is not surprising for a Star Trek and Star Wars fan.

Most amazing is that this tiny place carries a collection of miniature versions of paintings from the Great Masters and famous sculptures, each a few inches tall and made of wood, plaster, porcelain, or other ceramic material. There are also some rare examples of bronze and iron sculptures from the ancient world, as well as mosaics and other cultural art forms, all miniatures, of course. Additionally, it is home to one of the world’s largest collections of antique and modern clocks, that is, miniature versions of the originals.

But the museum is more than a place to appreciate the art and workmanship of the creators. A visit here can be highly educational. You can learn about the history of art, architecture, and engineering. You can read about the artists, architects, and engineers whose work inspired each piece found in the museum. The dioramas depicting historical and cultural scenes with little people frozen in time give visitors a glimpse of our past, as well as the sentiments of those who have gone before us.

For a little more than an hour, we were lost in the “great” spectacle of different worlds seen from a unique perspective, and when we got out and back in the “real” world with normal-sized buildings and people, we had to slowly shake off the sense of nostalgia and the dreamy state in which we found ourselves.

Every kid (and kids-at-heart like us) should absolutely visit this place!