Winnipeg's standout sight is the Canadian Museum for Human Rights — the first national museum of Canada built outside Ottawa and the first museum in the world dedicated exclusively to human rights. Nearby, The Forks is the city's beating heart: a 54-acre public space at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine rivers with a market hall, restaurants, a skatepark, and in winter the world's longest naturally frozen skating trail.
The Exchange District is a National Historic Site of ornate Edwardian brick warehouses that survived because Winnipeg's boom ended abruptly in 1914 — the city never modernised them. Today they house galleries, studios, the warehouse theatre scene, and the annual Fringe Festival. The Manitoba Museum holds the full-scale replica of the Nonsuch, the 1668 ketch whose successful voyage to Hudson Bay launched the fur trade. The Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre (Oseredok) houses one of the finest Ukrainian art collections outside Ukraine.
For performing arts, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. The Centennial Concert Hall is home to the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. The Burton Cummings Theatre (restored 1906 Walker Theatre) hosts touring shows and is beautiful in its own right.