Sage Mosurinjohn-English, Centretown News

A whale of a skeleton will await visitors to the Canadian Museum of Nature's new water exhibit.

The 19-metre-long skeleton is suspended from the ceiling as the centrepiece of the museum’s new water gallery.

“Humans are naturally excited about huge whales,” says museum exhibit designer Jonathan Ferrabee. “Standing next to this skeleton, you get a different perspective and get to experience the sheer magnitude of the creature.”

It took 10 days to suspend the 2,270-kg skeleton. But it has taken three years to get it ready for its big debut. The skeleton has been part of the museum’s collection since 1975, when the whale washed up on the shores of Codroy, Nfld. Scientists aren’t sure how the animal died, but damage to a section of the spine suggests it was hit by a ship.

Whale skeletons are extremely rare because the whale usually sinks, says Ferrabee, so the museum jumped at the chance to have a nearly-intact whale skeleton. But it was not ready to be displayed.

Before the museum’s massive renovation project started in May 2004, the museum didn’t have enough space to accommodate such a huge creature, says Carol Campbell, the project manager overseeing the new water gallery.

There was also another, more potent, reason.

“Whale bones are a lot more porous than human bones, and contain a lot of oil,” says Campbell. “We had to make sure there was no more oil left in the bones so the gallery wouldn’t smell.”

The entire skeleton – which is made up of more than 170 bones – had to go through a lengthy cleaning process. The bones were bathed for months in a 2,000-litre pool of heated enzymes to draw out the oil.

Then they had to be assembled. Some vertebrae were missing and replacement pieces had to be sculpted by hand using cardboard and paper-maché.

The replacement parts were painted a neutral brown to blend in with the colour of the real bones. Usually, display skeletons are bleached white, but the museum wanted to preserve an authentic look, says Campbell.

“Up close the texture is different,” says Ferrabee, of the replacement parts.

“They’re not mottled like bone, and of course they’re perfectly shaped.”

The skeleton is the first step in the completion of the water gallery. It’s the showpiece of the exhibit, says Campbell.

“This is what people will come back to see again and again,” he adds.

After almost six years of renovations, the museum’s electrical, water, heating and ventilation systems have been upgraded and the structure of the building has been reinforced.

Other projects included landscaping and the restoration of heritage elements, such as stained glass, wood doors, and mosaic floors.

The museum will celebrate its grand re-opening on May 22.