Quebec Museums and Galleries

Founded in 1860, the Montreal Museum of Fine Art has since acquired more than 41,000 artworks spanning the mediums of painting, sculpture, photography, and the decorative arts. The museum itself is enormous, and the art is divided for display purposes between four pavilions—international art, world culture, Canadian Art, and design. Upcoming exhibits include a comparison-based show of Picasso works and non-Western artists, and a collection of paintings depicting court life under Napoleon. Aside from the collections, the museum offers some interesting educational and health initiatives, like art therapy programs, workshops for toddlers, and painting classes for seniors.

Opened to bring public awareness to the crucial role architecture plays in shaping the identity of a city and, by default, improving the lives of residents, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, with its incredible gardens, is a calming oasis. The imposing nineteenth-century building houses a significant archive, exhibit halls, and fascinating restoration labs, where you can see the painstaking steps involved in restoring portions of older buildings and their decorative effects. A must-visit (especially with littles) is the sculpture garden, a totally novel space filled with architectural reproductions of sections of the Architecture Centre itself, with plants and vegetation winding their way around the deconstructed fixtures.

Founded in 1979, The Canadian Centre for Architecture provides exactly that: A pretty impressive compound for understanding the significance of architecture and design on everything. There’s a massive permanent collection, a gorgeous garden, a bookstore, and an events space for a packed-calender of “Open Sessions” from visiting historians.

Devoted to both the performing and visual arts, this compound revolves primarily around artists from Québec, including the largest collection of pieces by abstract painter (and Canadian) Paul-Émile Borduas, who was ultimately ostracized before his death in 1960 for advocating for the separation between church and state.