The National Gallery of Canada

Moshe Safdie's 1988 building answers the Gothic parliament buildings across the water with a glass tower of its own, and the long ramped colonnade leading up to it is one of the best interior walks in any Canadian museum. Inside, the collection is strongest on Canadian art: the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, and one of the most significant public holdings of Inuit art anywhere. Its most unexpected object is a room, the interior of the Rideau Street Convent Chapel of 1888, saved when the building was demolished and rebuilt piece by piece inside the gallery, with fan vaulting on cast iron columns. Outside stands Maman, Louise Bourgeois's nine-metre bronze spider.

What you actually see

• Maman - the nine-metre bronze spider on the plaza outside.
• The Rideau Street Chapel - an 1888 interior rebuilt inside the gallery.
• The Group of Seven - the core Canadian landscape collection.
• Inuit art - one of the major public holdings anywhere.

When to go

Year-round, and an obvious refuge from an Ottawa winter. Weekday mornings are quietest. Some evenings are free or discounted. The great hall and colonnade are best in daylight, so avoid arriving at closing time.

Honest expectations

The building is large and the Canadian galleries are the reason to come; the European collection is respectable but not why anyone travels here. Special exhibitions are ticketed separately. Sussex Drive parking is limited and the museum is a walk from the main hotel district.

Nearby

Parliament Hill and the Rideau Canal are across the bridge; the ByWard Market is next door.