Montreal's museums

The Stewart Museum celebrates the influence of European civilization in New France and North America. Artefacts, antique maps, rare books, illustrations and archives weave a time line of five centuries. The Museum is located in the 19th-century British military depot on île Sainte-Hélène, featuring a glass tower offering a unique view of Montreal.

The MMFA is one of Canada’s most visited museums and the eighth-most visited museum in North America, boasting more than 1.3 million visitors. The Museum’s original temporary exhibitions combine various artistic disciplines – fine arts, music, film, fashion and design – and are exported around the world. Its rich encyclopedic collection, distributed among five pavilions, includes international art, world cultures, decorative arts and design, and Quebec and Canadian art.

The Centre d’histoire de Montréal has closed its doors in Old Montreal. The museum has begun its metamorphosis to become, in 2022, the MEM – Montrealers’ Memory Centre, in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles on the corner of Saint-Laurent and Sainte-Catherine.

Montreal’s portal to its past, the Château Ramezay, was the first building in Québec to be classified an historic monument. Chosen as one of the 1001 Historic Sites You Must See Before You Die, the Château invites you to relive more than 500 years of history through its exhibits, its multimedia circuit (in six languages) and its French colonial garden.

The McCord Museum is the museum of all Montrealers, a social history museum that celebrates life in Montreal, both past and present—its history, its people, and its communities. Open to the city and the world, the Museum presents exciting exhibitions, educational programming and cultural activities that offer a contemporary perspective on history, engaging visitors from Montreal, Canada and beyond.

Visit Maison Le Ber-Le Moyne, the oldest complete building on Montréal Island. Explore Lachine’s heritage in the temporary exhibition.

The Avataq Cultural Institute preserves and celebrates the Inuktitut language and contemporary Inuit culture of Nunavik, with artworks and documentary, photographic and audiovisual archives as well as pieces from Nunavik’s archaeological and material culture.

The history museum invites you to discover the life of an exceptionnal woman and to visit exhibits and an archaeological site that you will find captivating. Head for Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, 18th century jewel of our heritage, for an insight into Montréal's past.