Somehow Montréal knows she’s the most eclectic of Canada’s cities: The island metropolis hosts international gigs like OSHEAGA, delights culinary crowds with her French-Canadian cuisine, and struts her Euro-heritage along the historic streets of the newly revitalized Vieux-Montréal. Impressively bilingual in English and French, Montréal’s global mix is a diverse microplanet of Scottish, Chinese, Haitian, Arabic, Jewish, Italian, Portuguese, Filipino, and Greek immigrants, just to name a few. All this is wrapped up in a vibrant arts and culture scene and energized by an exuberant university community.
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.
Festivals:
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, the 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.
Night life
During the period of Prohibition 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 clubs 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.
Cuisine:
Of note is the regional variation, the Montreal hot dog. 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 falafels and shish taouk sandwiches, and Japanese sushi, have become much-appreciated cuisines.
Poutine:
Poutine (pron.: /puːˈtiːn/; French: [putin], Quebec French:[put͡sɪn] (
listen)) is a typical Canadian dish (originally from Quebec), made with french fries, topped with brown gravy and cheese curds. Sometimes additional ingredients are added.
This Québécois fast food dish can now be found across Canada (and is also found in some places in the northern United States). It is sold by national and international fast food chains, in small “greasy spoon” type diners (commonly known as cantines or casse-croûtes in Quebec) and pubs, as well as by roadside chip wagons (commonly known as cabanes à patates, literally “potato shacks”). Poutine may also contain other ingredients such as beef, pulled pork, lamb, lobster meat, shrimp, rabbit confit, caviar, and truffles.
Museum:
Montreal has a vast network of museums, art galleries and exhibition centers. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possess a various collection of European, 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 ofThe 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.