Behind the scenes of the Canada Hall renovations

It's not expected to open until 2017, but the Canadian Museum of History is offering an earlyglimpse at how its redesigned Canada Hall could eventually look.

• Canadian Museum of History plans revealed

CBC News got a tour of the under-construction hall, closed since 2014 as the museum builds apermanent gallery that according to the museum'swebsite will be "the largest, most comprehensive and engaging exhibition on Canadian history ever developed."

The previous Canada Hall took museum-goers on a chronological journey through Canadian history, starting with Viking settlers arriving in Newfoundland and Labrador and ending with a late 20th-centuryvisit to the Wildcat Cafe in Yellowknife.

In 2013, the museum's director of research, Dean Oliver, described it as only covering"the arrival of white people in the 11th century [to] the groovy years of the 1970s."

The new hall will span two floors and will cover 13,000 years of Canadian history, from the earliestindigenous people to the 21st century,said Jean-Marc Blais, the museum's director general.

The $30-million renovation project is expected to be complete by Jul. 1, 2017, in time for Canada's 150th anniversary.