The ICAO Museum
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As part of the activities celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Chicago Convention, at the instigation and under the leadership of Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the ICAO Council (from 2014 to 2019), ICAO created a museum which would trace the history of air transport and pay tribute to the developments related to the Organization’s past, present and future. Walking through different periods related to milestones of ICAO’s work, visitors to the new museum can discover the most significant legal documents, public figures and achievements of the UN Specialized Agency for aviation during its years of existence. ICAO Member State donations have been selected and arranged to create an exhibition dedicated to the civil aviation community, and the retrospective also includes a brief overview of aviation before ICAO was formally established under the Chicago Convention of 1944. Located at Headquarters, the Museum was officially inaugurated on 5 December 2014 and named the “Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu Museum”.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Chicago Convention and to help engage youth in appreciating the role of safe and reliable civil aviation services, ICAO had organized a drawing contest, on the theme: Aviation – Bringing the World Together, open to children (ages 3 to 12) of ICAO staff, National Delegations, and Member State Civil Aviation Authorities. The best drawings were selected and were temporarily displayed in the ICAO Museum, as shown by the pictures here below.
The headquarters of ICAO in Montréal are not simply office buildings or conference centres. If they are to symbolize the Organization they house, they must also have some of the qualities of a museum. ICAO has gradually acquired outstanding works of art. The Guided Tour of ICAO Art Collection (2002 Edition) as shown by the following link (The ICAO Art Collection) reveals a remarkable collection of art and artefacts donated or loaned by the Organization’s Contracting States and displayed in the building as of 2002. It is to be noted that some the artefacts have been moved to the ICAO Museum further to its opening in 2014, resulting in the reorganization of others within the Conference Center.
Sections of the museum are reorganized from time to time for special events and artefacts may be withdrawn on such occasions.
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Poster announcing the 80th anniversary exhibition in ICAO’s Museum. |
In celebration of its 80th anniversary, ICAO, in collaboration with the Consulate General and Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to ICAO, was proud to present the special exhibition "Somewhere Out There". This exhibition featured artwork from various international artists, all inspired by the sky, airplanes, and aviation. The exhibition date was in October 2024. Each work reflected the artists' unique perspective on aviation and the endless sky.
This landmark exhibition, hosted at ICAO’s newly re-opened Museum at its Montreal Headquarters, commemorated eight decades of international air transport’s contribution to global peace and prosperity since the organization’s founding in 1944. This exhibition, which brought together artists from different cultures, was like ICAO, where people from all over the world, with different languages, cultures, religions and environments, come together to create a beautiful harmony.
The exhibition reflected our age-old dreams and hopes of traveling to new horizons and dreaming of the unknown.
The exhibition included the “Paper Airplane” project, a collaboration between ICAO Spouses Club members and the public. The paper airplane, which we all folded as children, reminded us of our dream-filled childhood and symbolized the long-standing human desire to fly.
See a few pictures of this temporary exhibition here-after.
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Souvenir cover of the Inauguration of the ICAO Museum - 5 December 2014. Photomontage based on the best drawings as selected at the end of the contest (see below).
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It was on 12 November 1906 that the Brazilian Santos Dumont’s airplane, the 14-Bis, flew a distance of 220 meters at the height of 6 meters and at the speed of 37,358 km/h. Thanks to this flight, the "Archdecon Prize" was awarded to Santos Dumont, who had thus, solved the problem of making a heavier-than-air machine take off by its own means. It was also the first powered flight by a non-Wright Brothers airplane aside from short powered hops by Clément Ade and Traian Vuia.
Henri Marie Coandă (1886-1972) was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer, and builder of an experimental aircraft, the Coandă-1910. The Coandă-1910 was an experimental aircraft constructed on the principle of air-reactive propulsion and drove a turbine rather than a propeller
Hanging is a model of the aircraft built by Zoilo Hermogenes García Peña (1881-1916), civil engineer and aviator from the Dominican Republic. Besides being a prolific engineer credited with building, among other things, the first theatre of La Vega, he is best remembered for designing and flying the first Dominican heavier-than-air aircraft in 1911.
Gift from ASECNA. See footnote below.
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General views of the Museum.
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View of the original entrance to the Museum (from 2014 to 2022).
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Temporarily exhibition: Pictures of the best drawings as shown in the ICAO Museum. The theme of the drawing contest was: Aviation – Bringing the World Together. From left to right: Winning Drawing by Erica-Marie Bressi, 11-year old; Gold, Bronze and Silver Winners.
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The ICAO Museum paid tribute to the First Licensed Women Pilots. A set of 6 frames is exhibited, one for each region in the world. Pictured from left to right:
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The ICAO flag commemorating its 75th anniversary had been hoisted atop Mt. Everest on 23 May 2019 by Pasang Tendi Sherpa (see picture). During the 56th Conference of Directors General of Asia Pacific Region, held at Kathmandu, Nepal from 19 to 23 August 2019, this flag was handed over to ICAO Council President Dr. Aliu on 19 August 2019 (see picture). It is exhibited in the ICAO Museum. |
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A few pictures from the temporary exhibition: Somewhere Out There |
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Frances Copeman, United Kingdom – Petersburg to Tampa. The first flight Petersburg to Tampa (USA) took place on 1 January 1914 with one passenger aboard, in addition to the pilot. This short flight over a lake portrays an image of innocent time in aviation that connected people’s lives. It was the first scheduled commercial flight in history.
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An Se-eun, Korea – “Names” detail. A work that is like a special ritual of writing down and remembering the names of the people who are carry on the present and making history together at ICAO. |
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Ludovic Boney, Canada – Strioscope. Strioscope is a process of photographing fluid flow that is widely used in aeronautical engineering. The supersonic bang is imagined by the artist and formally articulated around the technical themes of his artistic practice.
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Paper Airplanes project was a collaboration between ICAO Spouses Club members and the public. The paper airplane, which we all folded as children, reminds us of our dream-filled childhood and symbolizes the long-standing human desire to fly.
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Won Kimetarx, Korea - Anniversary Soaring: A Dreamlike Accent. A homage to the steadfast commitment of those who have dedicated their lives to the domain of aviation. An artistic representation that illustrates the aviation-inspired rendezvous of two representative buildings. |
Philippe Lagautrière, France - Envols. "Flight is the ultimate freedom of man, the possibility to escape the constraints of the earth and touch the sky" Charles Lindberg. Zigzagging drifts in the cotton-like clouds, sometimes with a touch of poetry. |
Footnote about the gift from ASECNA to ICAO Museum:
Amadou Ousmane Guitteye, Director General of ASECNA (Agence pour la sécurité aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar) proceeded to the handing over of three old pieces of ASECNA heritage equipment to the ICAO Museum. He explained that this donation constituted ASECNA's contribution to the ICAO initiative to retrace the progress made by civil aviation from its beginnings to the present day. This donation consisted of:
- A RCA AR-88 receiver used for the exchange of ATS messages by Morse Code, between the 1960s and the end of the 1970s, at the Central Communications Office (Bureau Central des Communications, BCT) at the ASECNA Representation in Madagascar.
- An AN/GRC-9 type HF transmitter/receiver which was used for radio communications during maintenance operations on remote and isolated sites, between the 1970s and the mid-1980s at the Madagascar Representation.
- A METRIX LX 109 A (U61) lampmeter used between the ’70s and ’80s for maintenance operations of HF transmitters, BLU transmitter/receiver, radio beacons, VOR, ILS, etc.
Note that ICAO bestowed the Edward Warner Award on ASECNA in 1972.
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