Most major cities can boast at least a few impressive museum collections, and Montreal is no exception. The main focus of the museums in Montreal tend to be the history of the city and the area, art, and architecture. Each of these spheres is well represented.
Is it art?
There are two main spots to check out artistic expression in Montreal. The first of these is the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Located on both sides of Sherbrooke street in the downtown core, the MMFA opened in 1860 under the auspices of the Art Association of Montreal.
The Museum moved to its current location in 1909, and has seen its collection grow by leaps and bounds through a series of donations from prominent collectors. The MMFA was the first building in Canada to be specifically designed to house an art gallery. The museum is home to a rotating collection of special exhibitions of important art from all over the world, ranging from furniture installations to oil paintings to modern art. An impressive permanent collection is also on display.
The Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art is in a much newer building, and was founded in 1964. Initially a part of the Quebec government’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the museum gained its independence in 1983 and has been focused on the promotion of Quebec and Canadian art ever since. A permanent collection of 7000 pieces of exclusively contemporary art is housed in a section of the Place des Arts complex on Jean Mance street in downtown Montreal, where the museum moved to in 1992. Unlike the MMFA, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art is still primarily funded by both the Quebec and Canadian governments.
Indoor architecture
The Canadian Center for Architecture opened its doors in 1979, and is situated on beautiful grounds on Rene Levesque Blvd. The CCA functions not only as a museum, but as a fundamental instrument for the promotion of architecture in Canada, particularly with an eye to raise the profile of this art form amongst the general public. The CCA has decided that one of the best ways to do this is to create a museum which displays many different styles of architecture, along with detailed information and artifacts regarding the many steps that are taken before a building is constructed: drawings, photographs, blueprints and design elements. The Canadian Center for Architecture also maintains an extensive garden, which is a green oasis in the area’s sea of concrete highway ramps. The garden is open to the public and contains small representations of famous architecture from around the world in a peaceful setting.
A glimpse into the past
The Pointe-à-Callière Museum is a relatively new museum in Montreal, as it was established in 1992. The museum is dedicated to exhibitions which explore the history of the city. Pointe-à-Callière is unique in that it allows visitors to walk through different historic buildings and archaeological sites in order to get a first-hand feeling for what the city was like at each stage of its development. Located in Old Montreal, the museum includes an archaeological field school, Montreal’s original Custom House, a crypt and the first Catholic cemetery established in the city.
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