Every year, during the month of May, Montreal celebrates FREE Museums Day through Montreal Museums Day. The annual Montreal Museums Day allows museums from around the city to offer free admission to their permanent and some temporary exhibits from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. This very popular open house event, on the last Sunday in May, is unique in North America. Some Museum offer access to free features & special events such as meeting with special guests, food tastings and even art workshops and science experiments. Select museums may offer special activities in addition to free access to costly temporary exhibits.
Over 40 Montreal museums participate in Montreal Museums Day, including some of the most popular ones below:
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MoFA)
- Montreal Biodome
- Montreal Science Centre
- St. Joseph Oratory
- The Biosphere
- Montreal Museum for Contemporary Art
- Redpath Museum
- Montreal Planetarium
- McCord Museum
Traveling from one museum to another is free thanks to STM shuttle buses that follow different bus routes to take visitors from museum to museum in different parts of the city. The boarding point for any of these routes is at the Quartier des spectacles. Buses leave every 20 minutes from the Promenade des artistes in the Quartier des spectacles at the Place des Arts metro station until late afternoon. Visitors are also free to visit museums on their own or join one of the bus circuits at different stops. It’s recommended to pick your favorite museums on the same circuit and plan ahead of time since it is quite unlikely that you will be able to cover more than a few museums on this really busy day.
The Montreal Museums Day had been happening since 1987. The goal of the event to make Montreal museums better known and more accessible to Montrealers and visitors alike. It is also an essential annual celebration of all things cultural for thousands of Montrealers and for tourists, as well. So far, more than 30 museums will take part in this fabulous day. For more information visit www.museesmontreal.org or check out the websites of the individual museums for details on the workshops and presentations they’ll be offering.
