Pointe-à-Callière, Where Montréal Began, Offers Itself up as the Perfect Birthday Gift for its Own 25th Anniversary and Montréal’s 375th Birthday

For immediate release

Montréal, January 25, 2017 – In 2017, Pointe-à-Callière will be one of the key sites for Montréal’s 375th birthday celebrations, thanks to its rich and varied program of activities. The highlight will be the opening of a new historic site, the Fort Ville-Marie – Québecor Pavilion, and access to Montréal’s first collector sewer. The Museum will be marking a quarter century this year, along with presenting four temporary exhibitions, displaying archaeological remains and offering over one hundred activities revolving around Montréal history. And to top it all off, the Museum will be giving its visitors a real birthday present: free admission to Montréal’s birthplace and to all its exhibitions for one month, from May 19 to June 20.

Montréal, January 25, 2017 – In 2017, Pointe-à-Callière will be one of the key sites for Montréal’s 375^th birthday celebrations, thanks to its rich and varied program of activities. The highlight will be the opening of a new historic site, the Fort Ville-Marie – Québecor Pavilion, and access to Montréal’s first collector sewer. The Museum will be marking a quarter century this year, along with presenting four temporary exhibitions, displaying archaeological remains and offering over one hundred activities revolving around Montréal history. And to top it all off, the Museum will be giving its visitors a real birthday present: free admission to Montréal’s birthplace and to all its exhibitions for one month, from May 19 to June 20.

“Pointe-à-Callière will certainly stand out as a key destination in Montréal in 2017. In barely 25 years, the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History has raised the city’s profile with its openness to the world, a reflection of Montrealers themselves. It has carved out an enviable place for itself in our fellow citizens’ hearts, but above all it has become an essential attraction for all our visitors: young families, school groups, newcomers, grandparents, tourists, and even future historians and archaeologists. 2017 will be a better time than ever to come to Pointe-à-Callière, where Montreal began,” says Andrew Molson, Chair of the Board of the Museum.

“Montréal has its roots here, at Pointe-à-Callière. We have long dreamed of making this exceptional evidence of the earliest days of the tiny colony of Ville-Marie, the future Montréal, accessible. Thanks to some 15 years of research on the birthplace of Montréal, through the Archaeological Field School, we discovered the remains of the first settlement, Fort Ville-Marie. We want to safeguard them for the future by showcasing them and offering them to Montrealers as a heritage legacy to mark Montréal’s 375^th anniversary,” explains Francine Lelièvre, the Museum’s Executive Director.

The new pavilion, created with financial assistance from the City of Montréal, will salute the very beginnings of the future city, along with founders Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance, and the handful of men and women who accompanied them on this “foolish venture” on May 17, 1642. In 2017, Montrealers will have the opportunity to discover and rediscover their past, where it all began 375 years ago. Visitors will also be able to stroll through a 110-metre section of the collector sewer and enjoy a multisensory, contemplative experience thanks to the Memory Collector, an ingenious light installation projected onto the stone walls in a specially designed sound environment.

The Museum, which has also renewed its exhibitions in the underground remains and on the Great Peace of Montréal, will be putting on four new temporary exhibitions throughout the year: From Asian Lands. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Hello, Montréal! Bell's Historical Collections, Amazonia. The Shaman and the Mind of the Forest and Hockey. In addition there will be a host of cultural activities, thematic tours, lectures, book launches, seminars and films, along with the Museum’s superb multimedia show and its fascinating regular exhibitions specially designed for families.

Lastly, in addition to this month of free admission for everyone, anyone who is celebrating his or her 25th birthday, like Pointe-à-Callière, will get in free all year long, with proof of age. Another birthday present: every month, a lifetime membership to the Museum will be awarded to a visitor who has shared a photo taken at the Museum on Instagram, with the #pointeacalliere hashtag.

About Pointe-à-Callière

Rising above the site where Montréal was founded, Pointe-à-Callière is the city’s largest history museum. It is a complex comprising a series of historic and archaeological sites of national significance that showcase major periods in the history of Montréal from 1350 to the present day. The only large-scale archaeology museum in Quebec and all of Canada, Pointe-à-Callière opened in 1992 to mark Montréal’s 350th birthday. The Museum’s mission is to bring visitors to know and appreciate the history of Quebec’s metropolis and to forge bonds with regional, national and international networks in the areas of archaeology, history and urbanism. It is currently working on a planned expansion to develop about ten heritage and historic sites to form Pointe-à-Callière, the Montréal Archaeology and History Complex, a world-class cultural and tourist attraction.

Pointe-à-Callière thanks the City of Montréal for its financial support.

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Media :

Pointe-à-Callière
Pascale Dudemaine
Communications Coordinator
[email protected]
T. 514 872-2687 / C. 514 439-6519