Pointe-à-Callière Honoured by Tourisme Montréal for Queens of Egypt Exhibition

On March 21, 2019, Tourisme Montréal awarded the Prix Distinction recognizing tourism performance and accomplishments of Montréal organizations in 13 categories. For the second year in a row, Pointe-à-Callière won the Prix Distinction in the “Museum Institution Prize – 50,000 Visitors or More” category for its exhibition Queens of Egypt.

It should be recalled that the Queens of Egypt exhibition alone attracted 316,000 visitors, making it the most popular temporary exhibition in Montréal and the most visited in Pointe-à-Callière’s history. For the first time ever, the Museum welcomed over half a million visitors, specifically 527, 216 people, an increase of 14% from the year 2017.

Tourisme Montréal recognized that Pointe-à-Callière has distinguished itself for many years now by its dynamism and the originality of its exhibitions. Queens of Egypt, presented in 2018, was the perfect illustration of this because it was skilfully designed using the projection of videos to recreate the ancient Egypt universe. These innovative technologies, such as projections, digital imagery and soundscapes were made possible thanks to the participation of the Montréal studio Ubisoft. The theme of the exhibition had also an innovative approach. Rather than presenting ancient Egypt from the perspective of pharaohs—a frequently explored theme—the Montréal exhibition shone the spotlight on women and their role in the Egyptian Empire, a topic rarely addressed in international exhibitions.

Pointe-à-Callière takes advantage of the exceptional quality of the Queens of Egypt exhibition to run a North American tour. The exhibition will notably travel to the National Geographic Museum in Washington and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.