You want to learn more about the city where you live? Friends or parents are coming to visit you, but you do not know what to show them in Montreal? You like art, science and history? Montreal is full of museums worth visiting! Here is a list of some interesting museums, grouped according to their geographical location. Indeed, museums in Montreal tend to proliferate in specific historical centers, for the joy of visitors who can easily stop by more than one museum per day. To get information about other museums not mentioned in this section, you are encouraged to visit the Board of Montréal Museum Directors, from which the format of this section was greatly inspired.
Enjoy the tour!
Enjoy the tour!
DOWNTOWN MONTREAL
McCord Museum690 Rue Sherbrooke O
Montréal, QC H3A 1E9 Metro McGill, University exit The McCordMuseum is located so close to McGill campus that it is almost a shame not to stop by. Its permanent exhibition, “Montréal-Points de vue”, focuses on Montreal: its history, its development, its peculiarities, its present. It explores ten different facets of the history of the city, from pre-contact to modern time. It highlights the different neighbourhoods, key historical events and important historical figures which have shaped Montreal. McCord’s various temporary exhibits, for their part, usually focus on the dynamics and issues of modern society.
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Montreal Museum of Fine Arts1380 Rue Sherbrooke O
Montréal, QC H3G 1J5 Metro Guy-Concordia, Guy exit The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts offers a really diversified set of permanent galleries, with exhibits touching on topics such as painting, sculpture, decorative art, photography and archaeology, from varied countries and time periods. Among the permanent exhibits, one can explore the Quebec and Canadian Art gallery, the Early to Modern International Art collection, and the International Contemporary Art section, which feature abstract and figurative paintings, minimalist and monumental sculptures, and multimedia projects.
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Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal185 Rue Ste-Catherine O
Montréal, QC H2X 3X5 Metro Place-des-Arts, Jeanne-Mance exit The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal is the biggest museum of contemporary art in Canada. It obviously focuses on today’s art, and displays the work of living artists from all around the world. It also possesses a restaurant with terrace, a bookstore-café, and a sculpture garden. The permanent exhibit until April 2016 is “A Matter of Abstraction”, which traces back the development of abstraction in Québec and Canada since the 1940s up to the present.
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OLD PORT
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335 Place d'Youville
Montréal, QC H2Y 3T1 Metro Square-Victoria, St-Jacques exit The Montreal Historical Center, like the McCord Museum, records the evolution of Canada’s first metropolis. The permanent exhibit “Montreal, Five Times” revolves around five keys moments in the history of the city, from 1535 to 2000, to better understand its development.
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Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History350 Place Royale
Montréal, QC H2Y 3Y5 Metro Place-d’Armes, Saint-Urbain exit Birthplace of Montréal and an authentic archaeological site, Pointe-à-Callière leads visitors through six centuries of history, from pre-colonial times to the present. The permanent exhibit, “Where Montréal Was Born”, is centered on the birth of the city over 360 years ago and its subsequent history. The museum tries to incorporate a lot of modern technology in its exhibits to create particular atmospheres: for instance, the site of Montréal’s first Catholic cemetery is characterised by an audiovisual environment and an interactive model showing how the site has evolved from 1350 to the present.
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Château Ramezay280 Rue Notre-Dame Est Montréal, QC H2Y 1C5
Metro Champs-de-Mars The Château Ramezay, built during the 18th century as a prestigious residence, invites you to relive more than 500 years of history. The permanent exhibit “Hochelaga, Ville-Marie and Montreal” features the history of Montreal and Quebec in general, from pre-contact times to the 20th century. “Life in Montreal in the 18th Century”, for its part, centers on the day-to-day life of Montrealers in the 18th century. Also, until November 30th, you can visit the Governor’s Garden, a typical French colonial garden, to learn more about the different types of gardens and their history, the various herbs and orchards, and their uses.
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Montreal Science Centre2 Rue de la Commune O
Montréal, QC H2Y 4B2 Metro Placed’Armes,Saint-Urbain exit The Montréal Science Centre is entirely devoted to science and technology. Dynamic and interactive, it proposes to visit various permanent exhibits, like “Sciences 26”, on the influence of science on our everyday life; “Mission Gaia”, an interactive game to save humanity from natural catastrophes by implementing sustainable development; “Cargo”, to explore what kinds of activities were carried on in ports; and “idTV”, where you learn to think critically about scientific and technological issues so as to create your own television reports.
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OLYMPIC PARK
Montreal Biodome4777 Avenue Pierre-de Coubertin Montréal, QC H1V 1B3
Metro Viau The Biodôme is a museum of the environment which allows you to explore five ecosystems of the Americas—the tropical rainforest, the Laurentian maple forest, the gulf of St. Lawrence, the Labrador coast, and the sub-antarctic islands—and discover some of their specific animal and plant species.
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Montreal Botanical Garden4101 Rue Sherbrooke E
Montréal, QC H1X 2B2 Metro Pie-IX With some thirty thematic gardens, ten exhibition greenhouses and a vast arboretum, MontrealBotanical Garden offers a peaceful setting to learn more about plants and their environment.
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Montreal Insectarium4581 Rue Sherbrooke E
Montréal, QC H1X 2B2 Metro Pie-IX The Insectarium offers various exhibits concerned with the hidden world of insects. The permanent exhibit “Busy Bodies” shows insects which survival depends on the complex organisation of their community, like the termites, ants, honey bees, bumble bees and wasps. “We Are the Insects”, for its part, discusses the abundance of insects on earth thanks to their survival skills but also highlights their importance for the maintenance of our planet’s environmental balance.
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ÎLE SAINTE-HÉLÈNE
Biosphere Environmental Museum160 Chemin Tour-de-l'Isle
Montréal, QC H3C 4G8 Metro Jean Drapeau The Biosphère features exhibits and activities which aim at informing visitors about major environmental issues related to water, air, climate change, sustainable development and responsible consumption. “+ 1°C: What difference does it make?” answers common questions about one of the 21st century’s key issues, climate change, using different media such as a short film and an interactive digital Earth globe.
“Finding Balance” unveils ten environmental issues and examples of ecological imbalances which resulted from consumer choices. “The Ecoological Solar House”, accessible until October 31st and located just a few steps away from the Biosphère, presents the construction materials and technological innovations which have permitted the building of this environmentally friendly home. This exhibit also gives simple and economical advises for “greening” your own home. “Water Wonders!”, accessible until December 23rd, proposes games and experiments with water to learn more about the uses of this precious resource. “Planet Bucky”, accessible until October 31, focuses on sustainable development by showcasing contemporary innovations that agree with the environmental philosophy of the Biosphère’s creator, Richard Buckminster Fuller. |
Stewart Museum20 Chemin Tour de l'isle
Montréal, QC H3C 0K7 Metro Jean Drapeau The Stewart Museum is located inside the British fortified depot of Saint Helen’s Island. Its permanent exhibit, “History and Memory”, covers a period of five centuries by linking the history of the Old and New continent. The occupation of Saint-Hélène island is at the center of the exhibit, but the latter is also enhanced by thematic sections about navigation, maritime trade or daily life in New France, and by further information about wider cultural and technological changes which have marked Western history and impacted locally.
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LACHINE CANAL
Musée plein air de Lachine398 Chemin du Canal
Lachine, QC H8S 4G2 “Industries of the Past at the Lachine Canal” is a historical route along the banks of the Lachine canal which allows visitors to discover the rich industrial past of the region. Thirty panels, with photographs and varied information, testify the presence of numerous industries along the canal. Also, around 50 contemporary sculptures are distributed in various locations.
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Lachine Museum1 Chemin du Muse
Lachine, QC H8S 4H3 Metro Angrignon The LachineMuseum is primarily centered around the Maison LeBer LeMoyne, a typical example of 17th-century French architecture. The permanent exhibit « The Maison LeBer-LeMoyne, Scene of Dreams… » exposes more than 400 historical and archaeological objects which illustrate the day-to-day lives of the house’s inhabitants—some of whose were merchants, labourers, innkeepers or rich retired persons—and the sociohistorical context behind their lives.
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Maison Saint-Gabriel2146 Place Dublin
Montréal, QC H3C 2A2 Metro Charlevoix The 300-year-old Maison Saint-Gabriel portrays diverse aspects of rural life in the 17th century through its various collections, activities and gardens. The museum is also greatly invested in the history of the King’s Wards. “From the Cellar to the Attic”, the permanent exhibit, proposes to visit this typical New France house and its various collections of objects from daily life and works of art such as paintings, embroidery, and sculptures from the 18thand 19th centuries. The vegetable garden and the flower and herb garden also highlight important aspects of New France rural life, such as the use of aromatic and medicinal plants.
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The Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site of Canada1255 Boulevard Saint Joseph Montréal, QC H8S 2M2
Metro Angrignon This museum, as suggested by its name, specialised on the importance of the fur trade in the history of Canada. Located in an ancient stone warehouse built in 1803, it offers a glance on the lives of Amerindian trappers, French Canadian voyageurs and European merchants who crisscrossed the continent in quest of precious pelts.
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