Grand Hall tour

Inside the Nuu-Chah-Nulth House

The display inside this house has a video on the construction of the housefronts for the Grand Hall, and a cedar interior house screen. Painted wooden screens were used to separate a chief's compartment in a communal house or as a backdrop during ceremonial occasions.

(illustration by Irvine Scalplock)

The screen portrays two prominent Thunderbirds. Down each side of the screen are the tails of Killer Whales breaching the surface of the ocean. The creatures with large heads, protruding tongues and curled tails are likely supernatural Sea Serpents, Thunderbird's spirit helpers. The circle in the middle, with an oval centre, may signify a phase of the moon as well as a portal. The circles containing a cross probably symbolize the earth and the four sacred cardinal points of the compass.