Culture of Montreal
Encyclopedia
Montreal
was referred to as "Canada
's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine
. The city is Canada's centre for French-language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. The Quartier Latin is a neighbourhood crowded with cafés animated by this literary and musical activity. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American
city, Montreal
shares many of the cultural features characteristic of the other metropolis on the continent, including representations in all traditional manifestation of high culture, a long-lasting tradition of jazz and rock music, and tentative experimentation in visual arts, theater, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face in the world. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown
, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, or festivals.
is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large open-spaced square in the downtown. Culture lovers will find 6 concert and theater halls, 5 of them inside: Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Cinquième Salle, Studio-Théâtre and one outside site: l'Esplanade. Classical dances, operas, plays, and music performance from troops around the world and from Montreal's very own are scheduled in these halls on a daily basis. The Musée d'art contemporain is located across the Esplanade from Place des Arts, and some of the most important theater troupes and musical concert scenes are found nearby in what is becoming Le Quartier des spectacles.
Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
. L'orchestre métropolitain and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal
and the city’s chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been active, particularly since the 1980s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps
, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The intelligent integration of multi-discipline arts in choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil
.
. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been a leader, particularly in the 80s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps
, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists during videos and concerts. The intelligent and seamless integration of multi-disciplinary arts into the choreography of these troupes helped pave the way for the popularity of the Cirque du Soleil
, a multi-million dollar empire based on a mixture of modern circus and performing acts. The agora de la danse is a studio where contemporary dancers most often perform.
(MSO) that perform in its halls regularly. The MSO is one of the top performance troupes in North America, most remembered for the quality performance of the repertoire of Maurice Ravel
. Since 2006, the MSO has a new conductor, the American Kent Nagano
. Two other Montreal popular musical troupes are L'Orchestre métropolitain, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and I Musici de Montréal a chamber orchestra founded and conducted by Yuli Turovsky. I Musici de Montréal are considered among the greatest interpreters of the works of George Frideric Handel. Also performing home at Place des Arts is The Opéra de Montréal, the most prestigious opera company in Montreal. One Montreal radio station is entirely devoted to classical music.
, Offenbach
, Cowboys Fringants) or even the Olympic Stadium (e.g. Diane Dufresne
), a feat usually reserved to a few international rock stars. Special events, such as the musical show on the Quebec national holiday, regularly attract over one hundred thousand people. The height for the French musical scene is reached every year during the Francofolies. The festival attracts international artists from La Francophonie
, popular artists from the Quebec musical scene, and emerging artists noticed during preceding festivals.
Montreal's English-speaking music scene also succeeds in getting attention from popular media around the world. The growing success of the current variety of artists and bands
, with Arcade Fire arguably leading the way, owes much to the city's culture of melting together different genres of music present from many different cultures. A variety of music festivals and independent local record labels also helps sustain this success. Other Montreal bands include Wolf Parade, Mobile, the Unicorns, and Simple Plan.
The Montreal International Jazz Festival illustrates well this melting of genres. Far from limiting itself to classical jazz (a style that Montreal always represented with jazzmen such as Oscar Peterson
and Oliver Jones), it features a great variety of artists who have espoused rhythms and styles from around the world. Smaller musical festivals include Festival International Nuits Afrique ("African Nights"), Montreal Reggae Festival, Pop Montreal
, FestiBlues international de Montréal, Mutek electronic music festival, and Osheaga rock festival.
Every Sunday in the central park in Montreal, there is a huge impromptu drumming festival in which hundreds of drummers are invited to jam with the Tam Tams.
(The Guid-Sisters, Forever Yours, Marilou), Montreal's adoptee Wajdi Mouawad
(Wedding Day at the Cromagnons, Littoral). Most established French-language theatres are found in the Quartier Latin (e.g. Théâtre du Rideau Vert) or near Place des Arts (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe).
In contrast, English theatre struggled but survived with the Centaur Theatre
. Ethnic theatre, by the 70s, began to be a force, notably with the Black Theatre Workshop
under the leadership of artistic director Tyrone Benskin, the Yiddish Theatre established at the Saidye Bronfman Centre and later with the Teesri Duniya Theatre. In the late 1990s, Montreal started to become a hotspot for low-budget independent English theatre with companies such as Optative Theatrical Laboratories, MainLine Theatre, Gravy Bath Theatre, Sa Booge, Persephone, Pumpkin Productions, and Tableau D'Hôte Theatre adding to the scene. More recently theatre has been taking a more activist turn with emerging organizations such as ATSA and the Optative Theatrical Laboratories, and festivals such as the Anarchist Theatre Festival, MAYWORKS, and the Infringement Festival
.
’s The Tin Flute (in French Bonheur d'occasion), which chronicles the life of a young woman in the neighborhood of St-Henri, marked Québécois literature for its urban texture. The work of Mordecai Richler
, highlighted by The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959), depicts the lives of poor English-speaking residents of Mile End. Mostly Michel Tremblay
perhaps best summarizes the alienation of poor working-class Montrealers at the onset of the Quebec Quiet revolution
. The all-time best-selling novel in Québécois literature, Yves Beauchemin
's The Alley Cat (Le Matou), depicts a relatively similar neighborhood twenty years later. The later work of Émile Ollivier
, for example La Brûlerie, is a portrait of French-speaking immigrants establishing their lives in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood.
The nineteenth-century poet Émile Nelligan
, whom American critic Edmund Wilson
famously called "the only first-rate Canadian poet, French or English," has many schools and libraries named in his honour in Montreal and around Quebec.
Montreal was also the center of literary modernism in English Canada, led by the Montreal Group
of poets including A.M. Klein and F.R. Scott in the mid-1920's.
Montreal hosts a number of events related to literature, including the multilingual Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival
, which takes place every Spring.
Cineastes have on occasion chosen Montreal for their movies. See Montreal in films
.
Montreal has a vast network of museums, art galleries and exhibition centers. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possess a various collection of Europe
an, Amerindian, Inuit
, and Canadian arts, including important paintings from Montreal's own Betty Goodwin
, James Wilson Morrice
and Paul-Émile Borduas
. The Musée d'art contemporain
has concentrated its collection mainly to emerging post-war
Quebec
artists, with arguably some of the best artistic works in Quebec from Alfred Pellan
and Jean-Paul Riopelle
.
Other praised museums are the Redpath Museum
, the Stewart Museum
, the McCord Museum of Canadian History
, the Canadian Centre for Architecture
, and the Montreal Museum of Archeology and History
.
The region is also home to a number of science-related museums. Many of them are located in the Olympic Park complex, including the Montreal Biodome
(which reproduces four ecosystems of The Americas), the Montreal Insectarium
, the Montreal Botanical Garden and the Montreal Planetarium
. On the West Island
, the Ecomuseum
draws many visitors, and features an outdoor setting complete with animals native to the area. A recent addition to Montreal's museum scene is the Montreal Science Centre
located in the Old Port
, and featuring many hands-on experiments in various fields of science. The Laval
Cosmodome
houses both Space Camp Canada and the Space Science Center. A short drive south in Granby
, is the Granby Zoo
, notable for its wide variety of animals and amusements.
and French-speaking North America as a whole, and an important city in the Francophonie. It is the largest French-speaking city in North America
, and the cultural capital of the Quebec province. The city is a hub for French-language television productions, radio, theater, circuses, performing arts, film, multimedia and print publishing. The best talents from French Canada and even the French-speaking areas of the United States
converge in Montreal and often perceive the city as their cultural capital. Montreal is also the most important stop in the Americas for Francophone artists from Europe, Africa and Asia.
Some 30 years after the adoption of the Charter of the French Language
, a greater number of first- or second-generation immigrants have established themselves in Montreal, such as playwright Wadji Mouawad (Lebanese origin), singer Nicolas Ciccone (Italian origin), author Dany Laferrière (Haitian origin), and actor Aimee Lee (Chinese origin), who all contribute to Quebec's culture.
, McGill University
, and the Centaur Theatre
are traditional hubs of Anglo culture. The cultural divide between Montreal's and Canada's Francophone
and Anglophone
culture was strong and was famously referred to as the Two Solitudes
by Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan. Reflecting their deep-seated colonial roots, the Solitudes were historically strongly entrenched in Montreal, splitting the city geographically at Saint Laurent Boulevard. This split, however, has become less and less apparent in the past decades. Although Anglophones still concentrate in the Montreal boroughs on the west side of the island, they have become more bilingual, as 66% of Quebec Anglophones claim to be able to carry on a conversation in French. Thus, while tensions can occur between Anglophones and Francophones, contemporary Montreal is home to a diverse collection of cultures and people who generally live together amicably.
.
Nicknamed ("the city of a hundred belltowers"), Montreal is renowned for its churches. Indeed, as Mark Twain
once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilica
s: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory
.
The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the largest dome of its kind in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Other well-known churches include Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
, which is sometimes called the Sailors' Church, and the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral
, which was completely excavated and suspended above an excavated pit during the construction of part of the Underground City. All of the above are major tourist destinations, particularly Notre-Dame and the Oratory.
Montreal is the seat of a diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
. But Montreal's culinary landscape is perhaps most influenced by the diverse fabric of its ethnic
communities. Italian
, Greek, Jewish, and Lebanese communities have contributed to the mix of Montreal's restaurants. Jewish contributions include two world-renowned items, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and Montreal style bagels. Lebanese falafel
s and shish taouk sandwiches
, and Japanese sushi
, have become much-appreciated cuisines.
This wide variety of cuisines underlines the fact that Montreal is one of the cities in the world with the highest number of restaurants. Montreal and its culinary landscape was the focus of Gourmet magazine's
March 2006 issue. Montreal's unique cuisine has also given birth to a number of Montreal-centric restaurants and restaurant chains, such as Dagwoods, Dic Ann's Hamburgers
, Dunn's Famous and Lafleur Restaurants
.
. The city welcomed 14 million visitors in 2005. Like the province of Quebec
, visitors to Montreal come from around the world, most of them from the United States
, France
, the United Kingdom
, Germany
, Mexico
and Japan
. 39,000 jobs in Montreal were generated by the tourism industry in 2005.
Crescent Street
in Downtown Montreal
is popular among tourists. Throughout the summer, it features various street fairs and festivals. Among locals, Crescent Street is known better for its many clubs and bars. Saint-Laurent Boulevard and the surrounding Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood, are also well known for their nightlife, with many bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
The plaza on Place des Arts is the home of the most important events during several musical festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Montreal Francofolies
, a festival of French-language music. two festivals last seven-to-ten days. performances are presented indifferent places, from relatively small clubs to the large halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on cordoned-off streets while others are in terraced parks.
The city's most popular festival, in terms of attendance, is the Just For Laughs Festival, held annually in July, is also the world's largest comedy festival
. The Montreal Fireworks Festival also attracts a lot of attention. On the evenings of competition, tens of thousands of people watch the fireworks for free on their roofs or from locations nearby the competition. Other festivals in Montreal include Pop Montreal, The Fringe Festival, la Fête des Neiges de Montréal, and Nujaz. Annual family-oriented events promoting health and cycling are also organized in the streets of Montreal. Parades are also popular in downtown Montreal.
Montreal is also famous as the birthplace of the Infringement Festival
, a reaction to the perceived corporatization of the Montreal Fringe Festival. The Infringement has since spread to many other cities in North America and Europe.
in the United States
, Montreal became well known as one of North America's "sin cities" with unparalleled nightlife, a reputation it still holds today. In part, its bustling nightlife is attributed to its relatively late "last call" (3 a.m.), a large university population, the drinking age of 18, and the excellent public transportation system combines with other aspects of the Montreal culture to make the city's night life unique. The diversity of the clubs in Montreal attests to the popularity of its night life, with night clubs, pubs, bars and singing bars ("boîte à chanson"), Latin clubs, African clubs, jazz clubs, lounges, after-hours houses
, and strip club
s all attracting different types of customers.
The most active parts during Montreal night life are the Downtown and the Quartier Latin
. Saint-Denis street, which goes across the Quartier Latin, attracts a majority of the French-speaking population. Saint-Laurent Street (known locally as "the Main") is also one of the most popular streets. A majority of English-speaking Montrealers frequent the western part of the Downtown, with Crescent Street
being one of the most popular streets in this sector. These three streets are all crossed by Downtown's most commercial street, Sainte-Catherine Street, which extends to its East in the heart of Montreal gay night life.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
was referred to as "Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's Cultural Capital" by Monocle Magazine
Monocle (2007 magazine)
Monocle is a lifestyle magazine and website founded by Tyler Brûlé, a Canadian journalist and entrepreneur. Described by CBC News reporter Harry Forestell as a "meeting between Foreign Policy and Vanity Fair", the magazine provides a globalist perspective on issues as fashion, international...
. The city is Canada's centre for French-language television productions, radio, theatre, film, multimedia and print publishing. The Quartier Latin is a neighbourhood crowded with cafés animated by this literary and musical activity. Montreal's many cultural communities have given it a distinct local culture.
As a North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...
city, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
shares many of the cultural features characteristic of the other metropolis on the continent, including representations in all traditional manifestation of high culture, a long-lasting tradition of jazz and rock music, and tentative experimentation in visual arts, theater, music, and dance. Yet, being at the confluence of the French and the English traditions, Montreal has developed a unique and distinguished cultural face in the world. Another distinctive characteristic of Montreal culture life is to be found in the animation of its downtown
Downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is nearly enitirely located at the southern most slope of Mount Royal and is approximately bounded by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Papineau Avenue to the east, Guy Street or until Shaughnessy Village to the west,...
, particularly during summer, prompted by cultural and social events, or festivals.
Place des Arts
A cultural heart of classical art and the venue for many summer festivals, the Place des ArtsPlace des Arts
right|frame|View of the Place des Arts esplanade. The Musée d'art contemporain is on the left; behind it is the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, with the Théâtre Maisonneuve on the rightPlace des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada....
is a complex of different concert and theatre halls surrounding a large open-spaced square in the downtown. Culture lovers will find 6 concert and theater halls, 5 of them inside: Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Théâtre Maisonneuve, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Cinquième Salle, Studio-Théâtre and one outside site: l'Esplanade. Classical dances, operas, plays, and music performance from troops around the world and from Montreal's very own are scheduled in these halls on a daily basis. The Musée d'art contemporain is located across the Esplanade from Place des Arts, and some of the most important theater troupes and musical concert scenes are found nearby in what is becoming Le Quartier des spectacles.
Place des Arts harbours the headquarters of one of the world's foremost orchestras, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...
. L'orchestre métropolitain and the chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal are two other well-regarded Montreal orchestras. Also performing at Place des Arts is the Opéra de Montréal
Opéra de Montréal
Opéra de Montréal is an opera company in Montreal. It performs at the Place des Arts theatre complex in downtown Montreal, in the borough of Ville-Marie. It was founded in 1980...
and the city’s chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal is a Canadian ballet company based in Montreal, Quebec.It was founded in 1957 by Ludmilla Chiriaeff. Conductor and composer Michel Perrault served as the organization's first music director. In 2000, Gradimir Pankov became Artistic Director...
. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been active, particularly since the 1980s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps
La La La Human Steps
La La La Human Steps is a Québécois contemporary dance group in Canada, known for its energetic, acrobatic style that often involves fast-paced and athletic physical contact...
, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists on videos and concerts. The intelligent integration of multi-discipline arts in choreography of these troupes has paved the way for the success of the Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...
.
Dance and performing arts
Performing at Place des Arts is the city’s chief ballet company Les Grands Ballets CanadiensLes Grands Ballets Canadiens
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal is a Canadian ballet company based in Montreal, Quebec.It was founded in 1957 by Ludmilla Chiriaeff. Conductor and composer Michel Perrault served as the organization's first music director. In 2000, Gradimir Pankov became Artistic Director...
. In contemporary dance, Montreal has been a leader, particularly in the 80s. Internationally recognized avant-garde dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps
La La La Human Steps
La La La Human Steps is a Québécois contemporary dance group in Canada, known for its energetic, acrobatic style that often involves fast-paced and athletic physical contact...
, O Vertigo, and the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault have toured the world and worked with international popular artists during videos and concerts. The intelligent and seamless integration of multi-disciplinary arts into the choreography of these troupes helped pave the way for the popularity of the Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...
, a multi-million dollar empire based on a mixture of modern circus and performing acts. The agora de la danse is a studio where contemporary dancers most often perform.
Classical Music
The Place des Arts also harbors the headquarters of the Montreal Symphony OrchestraMontreal Symphony Orchestra
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is a symphony orchestra based in Montréal, Québec, Canada, with Montréal's Place des Arts as its home.-History:...
(MSO) that perform in its halls regularly. The MSO is one of the top performance troupes in North America, most remembered for the quality performance of the repertoire of Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
. Since 2006, the MSO has a new conductor, the American Kent Nagano
Kent Nagano
__FORCETOC__Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. He is currently the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera.-Biography:...
. Two other Montreal popular musical troupes are L'Orchestre métropolitain, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and I Musici de Montréal a chamber orchestra founded and conducted by Yuli Turovsky. I Musici de Montréal are considered among the greatest interpreters of the works of George Frideric Handel. Also performing home at Place des Arts is The Opéra de Montréal, the most prestigious opera company in Montreal. One Montreal radio station is entirely devoted to classical music.
Music
Given that Montreal is mostly French-speaking, most popular local bands and singers have sung in French. In the past, the most popular local artists succeeded in filling arenas (Beau DommageBeau Dommage
Beau Dommage is a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, who achieved popular success in Quebec and France in the 1970s. The group's style included rich vocal harmonies and elements borrowed from folk and country music.-History:...
, Offenbach
Offenbach (band)
Offenbach is a Quebec blues rock band, initially active from 1969 to 1985. Following a successful reunion tour in 1996, the band released a new album in 2005.-History:...
, Cowboys Fringants) or even the Olympic Stadium (e.g. Diane Dufresne
Diane Dufresne
Diane Dufresne, CQ is a singer and painter, and has sung a number of classics of Quebec repertoire of popular songs....
), a feat usually reserved to a few international rock stars. Special events, such as the musical show on the Quebec national holiday, regularly attract over one hundred thousand people. The height for the French musical scene is reached every year during the Francofolies. The festival attracts international artists from La Francophonie
La Francophonie
Francophonie is an international organization of politics and governments with French as the mother or customary language, where a significant proportion of people are francophones , or where there is a notable affiliation with the French language or culture.Formally known as the Organisation...
, popular artists from the Quebec musical scene, and emerging artists noticed during preceding festivals.
Montreal's English-speaking music scene also succeeds in getting attention from popular media around the world. The growing success of the current variety of artists and bands
Montreal music groups
Montreal has been called the new hotbed for music worldwide by Rolling Stone magazine. The magazine also listed a song by the new indie rock group The Stills, "Still in Love", as one of the top songs of 2003...
, with Arcade Fire arguably leading the way, owes much to the city's culture of melting together different genres of music present from many different cultures. A variety of music festivals and independent local record labels also helps sustain this success. Other Montreal bands include Wolf Parade, Mobile, the Unicorns, and Simple Plan.
The Montreal International Jazz Festival illustrates well this melting of genres. Far from limiting itself to classical jazz (a style that Montreal always represented with jazzmen such as Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
and Oliver Jones), it features a great variety of artists who have espoused rhythms and styles from around the world. Smaller musical festivals include Festival International Nuits Afrique ("African Nights"), Montreal Reggae Festival, Pop Montreal
Pop Montreal
Pop Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 acts are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, mostly located in the Mile End area...
, FestiBlues international de Montréal, Mutek electronic music festival, and Osheaga rock festival.
Every Sunday in the central park in Montreal, there is a huge impromptu drumming festival in which hundreds of drummers are invited to jam with the Tam Tams.
Theatre
Theatre in Montreal is dominated by French-language productions, in part because Montreal has traditionally been a center for most successful Quebec plays. As a result, the most celebrated and internationally recognized Quebec playwrights have all worked in Montreal at some point, including Montreal's son Michel TremblayMichel Tremblay
Michel Tremblay, CQ is a Canadian novelist and playwright.Tremblay grew up in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a French-speaking neighbourhood of Montreal, at the time of his birth a neighbourhood with a working-class character and joual dialect, something that would heavily influence his work...
(The Guid-Sisters, Forever Yours, Marilou), Montreal's adoptee Wajdi Mouawad
Wajdi Mouawad
Wajdi Mouawad, OC is a Canadian writer, actor and director born in Lebanon in 1968. After living in France for a short time, he moved to Quebec in 1983.- Biography :He obtained his diploma from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1991....
(Wedding Day at the Cromagnons, Littoral). Most established French-language theatres are found in the Quartier Latin (e.g. Théâtre du Rideau Vert) or near Place des Arts (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Théâtre Jean-Duceppe).
In contrast, English theatre struggled but survived with the Centaur Theatre
Centaur Theatre
The Centaur Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Montreal, Quebec. It was founded in 1969 by The Centaur Foundation for the Performing Arts with Maurice Podbrey as the Artistic and Executive Director, and Herb Auerbach as Chairman of the Board....
. Ethnic theatre, by the 70s, began to be a force, notably with the Black Theatre Workshop
Black Theatre Workshop
-Organizational history:The Black Theater Workshop was incorporated in 1972 but has roots going back to the Trinidad and Tobago Drama Committee. Its first play "How Now Black Man" was produced under the name Black Workshop in 1970 at the Centaur Theatre....
under the leadership of artistic director Tyrone Benskin, the Yiddish Theatre established at the Saidye Bronfman Centre and later with the Teesri Duniya Theatre. In the late 1990s, Montreal started to become a hotspot for low-budget independent English theatre with companies such as Optative Theatrical Laboratories, MainLine Theatre, Gravy Bath Theatre, Sa Booge, Persephone, Pumpkin Productions, and Tableau D'Hôte Theatre adding to the scene. More recently theatre has been taking a more activist turn with emerging organizations such as ATSA and the Optative Theatrical Laboratories, and festivals such as the Anarchist Theatre Festival, MAYWORKS, and the Infringement Festival
Infringement Festival
The infringement Festival is an international, interdisciplinary critical arts festival that features theatre, music, film, culture jamming, street performance and visual arts, with an emphasis on activist art and work that challenges the commodification of culture.Conceptualized by theatre...
.
Literature
Montreal has a rich, yet still relatively young literary history in both French and English literature. A large number of novels have captured the realities of Montreal. While any list will understandably be subjective, a few works are agreed to be important in Canadian and Québécois literature. Written in 1947, Gabrielle RoyGabrielle Roy
Gabrielle Roy, CC, FRSC was a French Canadian author.- Biography :Born in Saint Boniface , Manitoba, Roy was educated at Saint Joseph's Academy...
’s The Tin Flute (in French Bonheur d'occasion), which chronicles the life of a young woman in the neighborhood of St-Henri, marked Québécois literature for its urban texture. The work of Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...
, highlighted by The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959), depicts the lives of poor English-speaking residents of Mile End. Mostly Michel Tremblay
Michel Tremblay
Michel Tremblay, CQ is a Canadian novelist and playwright.Tremblay grew up in the Plateau Mont-Royal, a French-speaking neighbourhood of Montreal, at the time of his birth a neighbourhood with a working-class character and joual dialect, something that would heavily influence his work...
perhaps best summarizes the alienation of poor working-class Montrealers at the onset of the Quebec Quiet revolution
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was the 1960s period of intense change in Quebec, Canada, characterized by the rapid and effective secularization of society, the creation of a welfare state and a re-alignment of politics into federalist and separatist factions...
. The all-time best-selling novel in Québécois literature, Yves Beauchemin
Yves Beauchemin
Yves Beauchemin is a Quebec novelist.Born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Beauchemin received his degree in French literature and art history at the Université de Montréal in 1965. He taught literature at the Collège Garneau and Université Laval...
's The Alley Cat (Le Matou), depicts a relatively similar neighborhood twenty years later. The later work of Émile Ollivier
Émile Ollivier
Olivier Émile Ollivier was a French statesman. Although a republican, he served as a cabinet minister under Emperor Napoleon III and led the process of turning his regime into a "liberal Empire".-Early life and career:Émile Ollivier was born in Marseille...
, for example La Brûlerie, is a portrait of French-speaking immigrants establishing their lives in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood.
The nineteenth-century poet Émile Nelligan
Émile Nelligan
Émile Nelligan was a francophone poet from Quebec, Canada.-Biography:Nelligan was born in Montreal on December 24, 1879 at 602, rue de La Gauchetière. He was the first son of David Nelligan, who arrived in Quebec from Dublin, Ireland at the age of 12. His mother was Émilie Amanda Hudon, from...
, whom American critic Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson
Edmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
famously called "the only first-rate Canadian poet, French or English," has many schools and libraries named in his honour in Montreal and around Quebec.
Montreal was also the center of literary modernism in English Canada, led by the Montreal Group
Montreal Group
The Montreal Group was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-1920s at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, which included Leon Edel, John Glassco, A.M. Klein, Leo Kennedy, F.R. Scott, and A.J.M. Smith. Most of the group's members attended McGill as undergraduates. Due to this...
of poets including A.M. Klein and F.R. Scott in the mid-1920's.
Montreal hosts a number of events related to literature, including the multilingual Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival
Blue Metropolis
Blue Metropolis is the name for the Montreal International Literary Festival. Also known as Blue Met, is the world's first multilingual literary festival and has been held annually in Montreal since April 1999. It was founded by Montreal writer Linda Leith....
, which takes place every Spring.
Film
There are plenty of English-language screens in the city, mostly downtown. The largest and most modern are the central Paramount Montreal and the AMC Forum, both located on Ste-Catherine Street. In addition to presenting movies from the majors, the AMC Forum also presents independent movies of repertory cinema. Other cinemas concentrating on repertory movies are the high-tech Ex-Centris and the Cinéma du Parc.Cineastes have on occasion chosen Montreal for their movies. See Montreal in films
Montreal in films
-Hollywood Movies set and shot in Montreal:*Wait Until Dark , starring Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna*The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz , Richard Dreyfuss, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman....
.
Videogame
Montreal also hosts many video game companies. (Source here http://www.gamesmontreal.com/blog/montreal-game-companies/ )Museums
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an, Amerindian, Inuit
Inuit
The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...
, and Canadian arts, including important paintings from Montreal's own Betty Goodwin
Betty Goodwin
Betty Roodish Goodwin, OC was a Canadian printmaker, sculptor, painter, and installation artist.- Early life :...
, James Wilson Morrice
James Wilson Morrice
James Wilson Morrice was a significant Canadian landscape painter. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he lived for most of his career.-Biography:...
and Paul-Émile Borduas
Paul-Émile Borduas
Paul-Émile Borduas was a Canadian painter known for his abstract paintings. He was also an activist for the separation of church and state, especially for art, in Quebec.- Biography :...
. The Musée d'art contemporain
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal is a contemporary art museum in the Place des Arts complex, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The collection includes over 7,000 works of art by more than 1,500 artists , covering contemporary art in Quebec in particular and Canada in general, as well as...
has concentrated its collection mainly to emerging post-war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
artists, with arguably some of the best artistic works in Quebec from Alfred Pellan
Alfred Pellan
For the federal district in Laval, Quebec, see Alfred-Pellan Alfred Pellan, was an important figure in twentieth-century Quebec painting. He was born in Quebec City in 1906. From the age of fourteen until his graduation in 1926 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec...
and Jean-Paul Riopelle
Jean-Paul Riopelle
Jean-Paul Riopelle, was a painter and sculptor from Quebec, Canada.-Biography:Born in Montreal, he studied under Paul-Émile Borduas in the 1940s and was a member of Les Automatistes movement. He was one of the signers of the Refus global manifesto...
.
Other praised museums are the Redpath Museum
Redpath Museum
The Redpath Museum is a museum of natural history belonging to McGill University and located on the university's campus at 859 Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in 1882 as a gift from the sugar baron Peter Redpath. It houses collections of interest to ethnology,...
, the Stewart Museum
Fort de l'Île Sainte-Hélène
The Fort de l'Île Sainte-Hélène, an historic site on Saint Helen's Island that belongs to the city of Montreal, Quebec, was constructed in the early 1820s as an arsenal in the defensive chain of forts built to protect Canada from a threat of American invasion. Although not heavily fortified, it...
, the McCord Museum of Canadian History
McCord Museum
The McCord Museum is a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the preservation, study, diffusion, and appreciation of Canadian history...
, the Canadian Centre for Architecture
Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Phyllis Lambert is the Founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Mirko Zardini is the Director and Chief Curator....
, and the Montreal Museum of Archeology and History
Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Pointe-à-Callière Museum is the Montreal museum of archaeology and history located in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as part of celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday...
.
The region is also home to a number of science-related museums. Many of them are located in the Olympic Park complex, including the Montreal Biodome
Montreal Biodome
The Montreal Biodome is a facility located in Montreal that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas. The building was originally constructed for the 1976 Olympic Games as a velodrome. It hosted both track cycling and judo events...
(which reproduces four ecosystems of The Americas), the Montreal Insectarium
Montreal Insectarium
The Montreal Insectarium is a museum located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, featuring a large quantity of insects from all around the world. It is the largest Canadian insectarium and among the largest insectariums worldwide. It was founded by Georges Brossard and opened on February 7, 1990. Its...
, the Montreal Botanical Garden and the Montreal Planetarium
Montreal Planetarium
The Montreal Planetarium is a public planetarium located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest surviving public planetarium in Canada. It is also Canada's largest, with a seating capacity of approximately 375.-History:The planetarium was opened in advance of Expo 67, located at 1000 Saint...
. On the West Island
West Island
The West Island is the unofficial name given to the western cities and boroughs of the Island of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada...
, the Ecomuseum
Ecomuseum
Ecomuseums originated in France, the concept being developed by George Henri Rivière and Hugues de Varine, who coined the term ‘ecomusée’ in 1971...
draws many visitors, and features an outdoor setting complete with animals native to the area. A recent addition to Montreal's museum scene is the Montreal Science Centre
Montreal Science Centre
The Montreal Science Centre is a science museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the King Edward Pier in the Old Port of Montreal. Established in 2000 and originally known as the iSci Centre, the museum changed its name to the Montreal Science Centre in 2002. The museum is managed by...
located in the Old Port
Old Port
The Old Port is a district of Portland, Maine, known for its cobblestone streets, 19th century brick buildings and fishing piers. The district is filled with boutiques, restaurants and bars...
, and featuring many hands-on experiments in various fields of science. The Laval
Laval, Quebec
Laval is a Canadian city and a region in southwestern Quebec. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third largest municipality in the province of Quebec, and the 14th largest city in Canada with a population of 368,709 in 2006...
Cosmodome
Cosmodome (Laval)
The Cosmodome is the home to both Space Camp Canada and the Space Science Center . Space Camp Canada welcomed its first campers in July 1994 while the Space Science Center, opened its doors to the public in December 1994.-The Space Science Center:...
houses both Space Camp Canada and the Space Science Center. A short drive south in Granby
Granby, Quebec
Granby is a city in southwestern Quebec, located east of Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 47,637. Granby is the seat of La Haute-Yamaska Regional County Municipality. It is the fifth most populated city in Montérégie after Longueuil, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Brossard and...
, is the Granby Zoo
Granby Zoo
The Granby Zoo is a zoo in Granby, Quebec and is one of Quebec's major tourist attractions.It was founded in 1953 by the mayor of Granby at the time, Pierre-Horace Boivin. There are currently more than 1000 different animals grouped into 200 species. The zoo has 516,000 visitors per year and...
, notable for its wide variety of animals and amusements.
Francophone
Montreal is the cultural center of Québec, French-speaking CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and French-speaking North America as a whole, and an important city in the Francophonie. It is the largest French-speaking city in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, and the cultural capital of the Quebec province. The city is a hub for French-language television productions, radio, theater, circuses, performing arts, film, multimedia and print publishing. The best talents from French Canada and even the French-speaking areas of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
converge in Montreal and often perceive the city as their cultural capital. Montreal is also the most important stop in the Americas for Francophone artists from Europe, Africa and Asia.
Some 30 years after the adoption of the Charter of the French Language
Charter of the French Language
The Charter of the French Language , also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only official language of Quebec, and framing fundamental language rights for everyone in the province...
, a greater number of first- or second-generation immigrants have established themselves in Montreal, such as playwright Wadji Mouawad (Lebanese origin), singer Nicolas Ciccone (Italian origin), author Dany Laferrière (Haitian origin), and actor Aimee Lee (Chinese origin), who all contribute to Quebec's culture.
Anglophone
Montreal is also the cultural capital for English Quebec. The Montreal Gazette newspaperThe Gazette (Montreal)
The Gazette, often called the Montreal Gazette to avoid ambiguity, is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with three other daily English newspapers all having shut down at different times during the second half of the 20th century.-History:In 1778,...
, McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, and the Centaur Theatre
Centaur Theatre
The Centaur Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Montreal, Quebec. It was founded in 1969 by The Centaur Foundation for the Performing Arts with Maurice Podbrey as the Artistic and Executive Director, and Herb Auerbach as Chairman of the Board....
are traditional hubs of Anglo culture. The cultural divide between Montreal's and Canada's Francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
and Anglophone
English Canadian
An English Canadian is a Canadian of English ancestry; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadian. Canada is an officially bilingual state, with English and French official language communities. Immigrant cultural groups ostensibly integrate into one or both of these communities, but...
culture was strong and was famously referred to as the Two Solitudes
Two Solitudes
The term Two Solitudes may refer to:* Two Solitudes , a 1945 novel by Hugh MacLennan*Two Solitudes , 1978 motion picture written and directed by Lionel Chetwynd, based on the 1945 novel...
by Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan. Reflecting their deep-seated colonial roots, the Solitudes were historically strongly entrenched in Montreal, splitting the city geographically at Saint Laurent Boulevard. This split, however, has become less and less apparent in the past decades. Although Anglophones still concentrate in the Montreal boroughs on the west side of the island, they have become more bilingual, as 66% of Quebec Anglophones claim to be able to carry on a conversation in French. Thus, while tensions can occur between Anglophones and Francophones, contemporary Montreal is home to a diverse collection of cultures and people who generally live together amicably.
Cultural contribution from other communities
Other cultural communities, be it first-generation immigrants or long-time settlers in Montreal, have greatly contributed to the originality and flavor of Montreal. Many festivals and parades are organized to celebrate the contribution of these communities, such as the Irish Saint Patrick Parade, the Greek Independence Day Parade http://mylem.org/ or the Festival des Nuits d'Afrique. Montreal's Jewish community has been a leading contributor to Montreal's cultural landscape and is renowned for its level of charitable giving and its plethora of cultural and social service community institutions. Among these are the world renowned Jewish Public Library of Montreal, Segal Centre for the Arts, and Montreal Holocaust Memorial CentreMontreal Holocaust Memorial Centre
The Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre is a museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dedicated to Holocaust education and awareness. It was founded in 1979 by a group of Holocaust survivors and facilitated by the philanthropy of Steven Cummings...
.
Religion
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
once noted, "This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window." The city has four Roman Catholic basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
s: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
The Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal. It is the third largest church in Quebec after St. Joseph's Oratory and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré east of Quebec City...
, the aforementioned Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Patrick's Basilica, and Saint Joseph's Oratory
Saint Joseph's Oratory
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal, , is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and national shrine on the west slope of Mount Royal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-History:...
.
The Oratory is the largest church in Canada, with the largest dome of its kind in the world after that of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Other well-known churches include Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel
The Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel is a church in the district of Old Montreal in Montreal, Quebec. One of the oldest churches in Montreal, it was built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel.St...
, which is sometimes called the Sailors' Church, and the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral
Christ Church Cathedral (Montreal)
Christ Church Cathedral is an Anglican Gothic Revival cathedral in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the seat of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal. It is located at 635 Saint Catherine Street West, between Union Avenue and University Street. It is situated on top of the Promenades Cathédrale underground...
, which was completely excavated and suspended above an excavated pit during the construction of part of the Underground City. All of the above are major tourist destinations, particularly Notre-Dame and the Oratory.
Montreal is the seat of a diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Cuisine
Of note is the regional variation, the Montreal hot dogMontreal hot dog
The Montreal hot dog is one of several variations of hot dogs served as a fast food staple at restaurants and diners in Montreal and other parts of Quebec...
. But Montreal's culinary landscape is perhaps most influenced by the diverse fabric of its ethnic
Allophone (Quebec)
In Quebec, an allophone is a resident, usually an immigrant, whose mother tongue or home language is neither English nor French. The term is also sometimes used in other parts of Canada. The term parallels Anglophone and Francophone, which designate people whose mother tongues are English and...
communities. Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
, Greek, Jewish, and Lebanese communities have contributed to the mix of Montreal's restaurants. Jewish contributions include two world-renowned items, Montreal smoked meat sandwiches and Montreal style bagels. Lebanese falafel
Falafel
Falafel is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas and/or fava beans. Falafel is usually served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread known as lafa. The falafel balls are topped with salads, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, and drizzled with tahini-based sauces...
s and shish taouk sandwiches
Shish taouk (Montreal)
A shish taouk is a Montreal-style chicken shawarma. It is the Montreal version of the traditional Lebanese dish, and is usually served in a pita wrap. Montreal's Middle Eastern community, which originates mainly from Lebanon, has made the shish taouk a restaurant staple in Montreal...
, and Japanese sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
, have become much-appreciated cuisines.
This wide variety of cuisines underlines the fact that Montreal is one of the cities in the world with the highest number of restaurants. Montreal and its culinary landscape was the focus of Gourmet magazine's
Gourmet (magazine)
Gourmet magazine was a monthly publication of Condé Nast and the first U.S. magazine devoted to food and wine. Founded by Earle R. MacAusland and first published in 1941, Gourmet also covered "good living" on a wider scale....
March 2006 issue. Montreal's unique cuisine has also given birth to a number of Montreal-centric restaurants and restaurant chains, such as Dagwoods, Dic Ann's Hamburgers
Dic Ann's Hamburgers
Dic Ann's Hamburgers is a fast-food restaurant chain based in the Montreal Metropolitan Area. Founded in 1954, Dic Ann's is best known for their extremely thin hamburgers, which are topped with their own unique meat sauce, and served with a tongue depressor. Their poutine is also served with Dic...
, Dunn's Famous and Lafleur Restaurants
Lafleur Restaurants
Lafleur Restaurants is a chain of family-owned fast food restaurants located in the metropolitan area of Montreal.- Cuisine :Lafleur is widely known for serving the basic staples of Québécois fast food, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries and poutine. It is particularly known for its hot dog...
.
Tourism
Tourism is an important industry in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. The city welcomed 14 million visitors in 2005. Like the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, visitors to Montreal come from around the world, most of them from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. 39,000 jobs in Montreal were generated by the tourism industry in 2005.
Crescent Street
Crescent Street
Crescent Street is a southbound street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Running perpendicular to Saint Catherine Street, Crescent Street descends from Sherbrooke Street south to René-Lévesque Boulevard....
in Downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is nearly enitirely located at the southern most slope of Mount Royal and is approximately bounded by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Papineau Avenue to the east, Guy Street or until Shaughnessy Village to the west,...
is popular among tourists. Throughout the summer, it features various street fairs and festivals. Among locals, Crescent Street is known better for its many clubs and bars. Saint-Laurent Boulevard and the surrounding Plateau Mont-Royal neighbourhood, are also well known for their nightlife, with many bars, nightclubs and restaurants.
Festivals
Francofolies
Francofolies, common name of various music festivals including:* Les FrancoFolies de Montréal, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada* Les Francofolies de La Rochelle, in La Rochelle, France* Les Francofolies de Spa in Spa, Belgium...
, a festival of French-language music. two festivals last seven-to-ten days. performances are presented indifferent places, from relatively small clubs to the large halls of Place des Arts. Some of the outdoor shows are held on cordoned-off streets while others are in terraced parks.
The city's most popular festival, in terms of attendance, is the Just For Laughs Festival, held annually in July, is also the world's largest comedy festival
Comedy festival
A comedy festival is a celebration of comedy with many shows, venues, comedy performers and is held over a specific block of time...
. The Montreal Fireworks Festival also attracts a lot of attention. On the evenings of competition, tens of thousands of people watch the fireworks for free on their roofs or from locations nearby the competition. Other festivals in Montreal include Pop Montreal, The Fringe Festival, la Fête des Neiges de Montréal, and Nujaz. Annual family-oriented events promoting health and cycling are also organized in the streets of Montreal. Parades are also popular in downtown Montreal.
Montreal is also famous as the birthplace of the Infringement Festival
Infringement Festival
The infringement Festival is an international, interdisciplinary critical arts festival that features theatre, music, film, culture jamming, street performance and visual arts, with an emphasis on activist art and work that challenges the commodification of culture.Conceptualized by theatre...
, a reaction to the perceived corporatization of the Montreal Fringe Festival. The Infringement has since spread to many other cities in North America and Europe.
Night life
During the period of ProhibitionProhibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Montreal became well known as one of North America's "sin cities" with unparalleled nightlife, a reputation it still holds today. In part, its bustling nightlife is attributed to its relatively late "last call" (3 a.m.), a large university population, the drinking age of 18, and the excellent public transportation system combines with other aspects of the Montreal culture to make the city's night life unique. The diversity of the clubs in Montreal attests to the popularity of its night life, with night clubs, pubs, bars and singing bars ("boîte à chanson"), Latin clubs, African clubs, jazz clubs, lounges, after-hours houses
Afterhour clubs
An Afterhours club , in North America and Europe, refers to a nightclub which is open past the designated curfew for clubs that serve alcohol...
, and strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s all attracting different types of customers.
The most active parts during Montreal night life are the Downtown and the Quartier Latin
Quartier Latin (Montreal)
The Quartier Latin is an area in the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal, surrounding UQAM and lower Saint-Denis Street, between downtown and the Gay Village...
. Saint-Denis street, which goes across the Quartier Latin, attracts a majority of the French-speaking population. Saint-Laurent Street (known locally as "the Main") is also one of the most popular streets. A majority of English-speaking Montrealers frequent the western part of the Downtown, with Crescent Street
Crescent Street
Crescent Street is a southbound street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Running perpendicular to Saint Catherine Street, Crescent Street descends from Sherbrooke Street south to René-Lévesque Boulevard....
being one of the most popular streets in this sector. These three streets are all crossed by Downtown's most commercial street, Sainte-Catherine Street, which extends to its East in the heart of Montreal gay night life.