What to See in Montreal - Top Sights and Attractions

Canadian art and global exhibits. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street.

The MMFA is spread across five pavilions, and occupies a total floor area of 53,095 square metres (571,510 sq ft), 13,000 (140,000 sq ft) of which are exhibition space. With the 2016 inauguration of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace, the museum campus was expected to become the eighteenth largest art museum in North America. The permanent collection included approximately 44,000 works in 2013. The original "reading room" of the Art Association of Montreal was the precursor of the museum's current library, the oldest art library in Canada.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is a member of the International Group of Organizers of Large-scale Exhibitions, also known as the Bizot Group, a forum which allows the leaders of the largest museums in the world to exchange works and exhibitions.

Founded in 1860, it is the oldest art museum in Canada. In 2020, it was the most visited art museum in Canada.^[3]

Excavations and historic buildings. Pointe-à-Callière Museum is a museum of archaeology and history in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as part of celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday. The museum has collections of artifacts from the First Nations of the Montreal region that illustrate how various cultures coexisted and interacted, and how the French and British regimes influenced the history of this territory over the years. The site of Pointe-à-Callière has been included in Montreal’s Birthplace National Historic Site since its designation in 1924.

It receives more than 350,000 visitors a year. Nearly 4.5 million people have come to the museum since it opened in 1992. It has received more than fifty national and international awards, including those in museography, architecture, and for cultural, educational and community activities. The museum is affiliated with: the Canadian Museums Association, the Canadian Heritage Information Network, and the Virtual Museum of Canada.

The museum complex comprises three archaeological sites: Pointe-à-Callière, Place Royale and 214 Place d'Youville; the archaeological field school at Fort Ville-Marie; Montreal's first Catholic cemetery; the William collector sewer; an archaeological crypt: Place Royale; a heritage building: the former Youville Pumping Station; 165-169 Place d’Youville, the Mariners House; and archaeological collections of over a million objects.^[4]

Museum in Montreal, Quebec. The Canadian Centre for Architecture is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920 Baile Street, between Fort Street and Saint-Marc Street in what was once part of the Golden Square Mile. Today, it is considered to be located in the Shaughnessy Village neighbourhood of the borough of Ville-Marie.

Phyllis Lambert is the founding director emeritus, Bruce Kuwabara is chair of the board of trustees, Giovanna Borasi is the director. It was designed and built by Peter Rose.

The CCA contains a large library and archives, and is host to various exhibits throughout the year. It is also home to a study centre open to the general public. The CCA provides educational programs and cultural activities.

The CCA also has an architectural garden located on the southern side of René Lévesque Boulevard. The sculpture garden was designed by architect Melvin Charney.^[9]

Minor basilica in Montreal, Quebec. Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine located at 3800 Queen Mary Road in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood on Mount Royal's Westmount Summit in Montreal, Quebec. It is a National Historic Site of Canada and is Canada's largest church, with one of the largest church domes in the world. Founded in 1904 by Saint André Bessette in his patron saint, Saint Joseph's honour, the Oratory was brought alive through the work and ingenuity of numerous architects and thousands of workers in a process spanning six decades. With its monumental scale, Renaissance Revival facade and contrasting Art Deco interior, the Oratory is recognizable not just in Montreal but around the world, attracting more than 2 million visitors and pilgrims to its steps each year.

The Oratory is the highest building in Montreal, rising more than 30 meters above Mount Royal's summit, allowing it to be seen from many kilometers away. It is one of the few buildings that violates the height restriction under the municipal building code of Montreal, which limits the height of any building, including skycrapers, from surpassing the height of Mount Royal.

Since 2018, the dome and lantern atop the Oratory have undergone a series of renovations expected to be completed in 2022 by architecture firms Atelier TAG and Architecture49. The C$80 million project will create safe access to the lantern which will allow for an unprecedented 360-degree view over the mountain of the city.^[10]

Large insect museum with live exhibits. The Montreal Insectarium is a natural history museum located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, featuring a large quantity of insects from all around the world. It is the largest insect museum in North America and among the largest insectariums worldwide. It was founded by Georges Brossard and opened on February 7, 1990. Its average attendance is 400,000 visitors per year. It displays both live and dead insect collections, from butterflies to bees and ants.

It is one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, along with the Montreal Botanical Garden, Montreal Planetarium and the Montreal Biodome.

Seen from the sky, the Montréal Insectarium resembles a stylized insect. This can also be seen from the observatory of Montréal's Olympic Stadium.^[11]

Museum in Montreal, Quebec. The Montreal Biodome is a facility located at Olympic Park in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas. The building was originally constructed for the 1976 Olympic Games as a velodrome. It hosted both track cycling and judo events. Renovations on the building began in 1989 and in 1992 the indoor nature exhibit was opened.

The Montreal Biodome is one of four facilities that make part of the largest natural science museum complex in Canada, Space for Life, which also includes the Montreal Insectarium, Montreal Botanical Garden, and Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. It is an accredited member of both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums association (CAZA).^[12]

Towering Gothic Revival church. Notre-Dame Basilica is a basilica in the historic district of Old Montreal, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The church is located at 110 Notre-Dame Street West, at the corner of Saint Sulpice Street. It is located next to the Saint-Sulpice Seminary and faces the Place d'Armes square.

The interior of the church is amongst the most dramatic in the world and regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture. The vaults are coloured deep blue and decorated with golden stars, and the rest of the sanctuary is decorated in blues, azures, reds, purples, silver, and gold. It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. Unusual for a church, the stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary do not depict biblical scenes, but rather scenes from the religious history of Montreal. It also has a Casavant Frères pipe organ, dated 1891, which comprises four keyboards, 92 stops using electromagnetic action and an adjustable combination system, 7000 individual pipes and a pedal board.

Approximately 11 million people visit Notre-Dame Basilica every year, making it one of the most visited monuments in North America.^[13]

University natural history collection. The Redpath Museum is a museum of natural history belonging to McGill University and located on the university's campus at 859 Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal, Quebec. It was built in 1882 as a gift from the sugar baron Peter Redpath.

It houses collections of interest to ethnology, biology, paleontology, and mineralogy/geology. The collections were started by some of the same individuals who founded the Smithsonian and Royal Ontario Museum collections. The current director is Hans Larsson. Commissioned by Redpath to mark the 25th anniversary of Sir John William Dawson's appointment as Principal, the Museum was designed by A.C. Hutchison and A.D. Steele. McGill University's Redpath Museum website characterizes it as an "idiosyncratic expression of eclectic Victorian Classicism" as well as "an unusual and late example of the Greek Revival in North America."

It is the oldest building built specifically to be a museum in Canada. Both the museum's interior and exterior have been utilized as a set, for movies and commercials.^[17]

Le Vampire is an inverted roller coaster at La Ronde amusement park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, designed by the Swiss firm Bolliger & Mabillard. It is a mirror image of Batman: The Ride, but the roller coaster has no association to the Batman media franchise and was given an unrelated name and a slightly different cosmetic appearance. The track is 823 metres in length and reaches a height of nearly 32 metres. Riders sit with their legs dangling such as on a ski chairlift and reach speeds of up to 80.5 km/hour and loop head-over-heels five times. The Vampire can carry up to 1,400 riders per hour.

The ride was closed due to an accident on July 6, 2012. It opened for the first time since the incident on August 13, 2012. On September 3, 2015, the park announced that the ride would run backwards for a limited time during the 2016 season and become part of a new section of the park.

Le Vampire was constructed by Martin & Vleminckx.^[19]

Grand church dating to the 19th century. Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral or in full Mary, Queen of the World and St. James the Great Cathedral is a minor basilica in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal. It is the third largest church in Quebec after Saint Joseph's Oratory and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré east of Quebec City. The building is 101 m in length, 46 m in width, and a maximum height of 77 m at the cupola, the diameter of which is 23 m.

The church is located at 1085 Cathedral Street at the corner of René Lévesque Boulevard and Metcalfe Street, near the Bonaventure metro station and Central Station in downtown Montreal. It and the connected Archdiocese main buildings form the eastern side of Place du Canada, and occupies of dominant presences on Dorchester Square.^[20]

Park in Montreal, Quebec. L'Île-de-la-Visitation Nature Park is a large nature park in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville and Montréal-Nord boroughs of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Much of the park is on Île de la Visitation, with the rest being opposite the island on the shore of the Island of Montreal. Bridges connect the two sections. The park was established in 1984 during the renovation of the Rivière des Prairies generating station. It has an area of 34 hectares.

The footpaths along the shore allow for walking and offer views of the Rivière des Prairies. The park has 8.8 kilometres (5.5 mi) of hiking trails and 3.6 kilometres (2.2 mi) of bike paths. Fishing is allowed in designated areas.

Various historical monuments (Milling site, Maison du Pressoir, Maison du Meunier) and picnic tables are located along the trail.

In winter, cross-country skiing trails are offered. There is also a small hill that is used for tobogganing by children.

The current of the Rivière des Prairies is calm around the island.^[22]

Arena in Montreal, Quebec. Bell Centre, formerly known as Molson Centre, is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League, replacing the Montreal Forum. It is owned by the Molson family via the team's ownership group Groupe CH, and managed via Groupe CH subsidiary Evenko.

With a capacity of 21,105 in its hockey configuration, Bell Centre is the largest ice hockey arena in the world. Alongside hockey, Bell Centre has hosted major concerts, and occasional mixed martial arts and professional wrestling events. Since it opened in 1996, it has consistently been listed as one of the world's busiest arenas, usually receiving the highest attendance of any arena in Canada. In 2012, it was the fifth-busiest arena in the world based on ticket sales for non-sporting events.^[26]

Large urban park with monuments. Dorchester Square is a large urban square in downtown Montreal. Together with Place du Canada, the area is just over 21,000 m2 or 2.1 ha of manicured and protected urban parkland bordered by René Lévesque Boulevard to the south, Peel Street to the west, Metcalfe Street to the east and Dorchester Square Street to the north. The square is open to the public 24 hours a day and forms a focal point for pedestrian traffic in the city. Until the creation of Place du Canada in 1967, the name "Dominion Square" had been applied to the entire area.

Land acquisition to build the square began in 1872 and the site was inaugurated in 1878, though it was not thoroughly completed until 1892. The square has four statues that were originally arranged in the form of a Union Jack. In 2010, $14-million was spent on a redesign, with the removal of a flower stand on the southwest corner, all monuments refurbished, new street furniture added and a lighting scheme which has greatly improved the look of the square after dark. As a nod to the fact that it was once a cemetery, small crosses have been embedded in the walkways. In addition, some lights are pointed to shine on the foliage of the many trees, allowing for an interesting nocturnal green glow in the summer. A planned renovation of Place du Canada has begun with renovations to the John A. Macdonald monument and the Cenotaph. A further renovation of Dorchester Square Street (including the bus/taxi parking area, subterranean garage entrance and exit and the kiosk) is planned, and it is possible that the square may be expanded with Dorchester Square Street converted for pedestrian use.^[30]

Historical harborfront clock tower. The Montreal Clock Tower, also known as the Sailor's Memorial Clock and Tour de l’Horlodge in French, is located in the borough of Ville-Marie and is situated in the Old Port of Montreal. The construction of the tower began in 1919, and was finished in 1922. The Clock Tower is 45 m tall with 192 steps from the bottom to the top of the tower. It has three observation stops along the staircase and is the outside walls of the Clock Tower are white in colour. The structure consists of the principal tower, as well as a smaller tower that is 12 m and architecturally similar to the main tower. The two towers are connected by a white 13 m curtain wall. The tower consists of four translucent clock faces. These are each 3.7 m in diameter and were designed by the English engineering firm, Gillett & Johnston.

The building of the Montreal clock tower was directed by the Montreal Harbor Commission. The commission which was formed in the year 1830 to oversea the infrastructural development of the Old Port of Montreal and was replaced by the National Harbours Board in 1936. The tower marks the entrance to the Old Port of Montreal and its erection was dedicated to the seamen who died in the First World War. It is a symbol of the port's economic contribution through grain exportation to the city of Montreal during the era of the Clock Tower's construction.^[32]

Stadium in Montreal, Quebec. Percival Molson Memorial Stadium is an outdoor football stadium located downtown on the slopes of Mount Royal in the borough of Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Named in honour of Percival Molson, it is owned by McGill University and was the home of the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League from 1954 to 1967 and has been since 1998. The stadium is also home to the McGill Redbirds and Martlets of the RSEQ, the Montreal Royal of the American Ultimate Disc League, and the Canadian Corporate Soccer League, the largest amateur corporate league in Canada. The Selwyn House Gryphons high-school football team also play their home games at the stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 20,025.^[33]

Performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec. Place des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the largest cultural and artistic complex in Canada.

Home to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the Opéra de Montréal, the complex is situated between Saint Catherine and de Maisonneuve Streets, and Saint-Urbain and Jeanne-Mance streets, in an area now known as the Quartier des spectacles in the borough of Ville-Marie.

Place des Arts was an initiative of Mayor Jean Drapeau, a noted lover of opera, as part of a project to expand the downtown core eastward from the concentration of business and financial activity in the centre-west part of downtown. The Corporation George-Étienne-Cartier, named in honour of George-Étienne Cartier, a Father of Confederation and opera lover, was set up to build it, and the first part of the complex (including the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) was inaugurated on September 21, 1963. The other theatres were added progressively.^[34]