Make the most of summertime, come find inspiration in Québec’s museums!
Adèle Melot, communications officer - Société des musées du Québec
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Looking for cultural discoveries, adventure, nature and tranquility? Take time out to visit Quebec's museums and cultivate new passions. Plan your visit now and take advantage of our many suggestions!
Discover the wonders of the land
At Musée des Hospitalières, come explore Montreal’s famous hill: Mount Royal. With the exhibition Our Mountain. Memories of Mount Royal you will travel through the history of the city’s emblematic place. On the island of Montréal, along the river, you are invited to learn about the evolution of Verdun's riverbanks in the 19th and 20th centuries by way of the outdoor exhibition at the Maison Nivard-De Saint-Dizier, museum and archeological site.
Explore your connections to the land at the Musée des beaux-arts de Sherbrooke. The works presented as part of the Contemporary Native Art Biennale highlight the First Nations' relationship with the land, which heals and protects them.
In the Mauricie region, climb to the top of the Hydro-Québec observation tower at the Cité de l'énergie and admire the heritage of Shawinigan. At the Musée POP in Trois-Rivières, where the remarkable work of those who feed Quebec is celebrated: the exhibition Du cœur au ventre depuis 100 ans takes you on a touching journey through Quebec's agricultural world, from 1924 to the present day.
Stories of the land are also told through other exhibition not to be missed this summer:
- Afromuseum in Montréal : Lucie Kamuswekera's embroideries - Threads of the history of RD Congo
- Centre d'histoire et d'archéologie de la Métabetchouane in Desbiens: Le commerce de fourrure
- A.C. Davie Shipyard National Historic Site in Lévis: Joseph-Elzéar Bernier: explorateur de l’Arctique
- Minéro - Musée de Thetford | KB3 in Thetford Mines: Sous terre en VR: une aventure minière immersive
- Matamajaw Fishing Heritage Site in Causapscal: A True Fishing Story
- MUSO - Musée de société des Deux-Rives in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield : 150 years of Nightlife
Discover new passions
This summer, museums are offering exhibitions that foreground the inventiveness and know-how of various trades… and, who knows, pave the way for new career paths?
Want to find out what goes on behind the scenes at one of Quebec's flagship industries? Combine your visit to the Musée de l'ingéniosité J. Armand Bombardierwith a tour of the BRP plant in Valcourt to learn all about the manufacture and assembly of recreational vehicles. Does the aviation profession fascinate you? Step into the shoes of an airplane pilot on one of the two flight simulators offered at the Musée de l'aviation - Musée Major Dupuis in Sainte-Marie.
Perhaps you are more drawn to crafts? Then come and discover the know-how of the W8banaki on August 24 during Abenaki Day at Maison Merry. If you'd like hone you cooking skills, sign up for the culinary workshop culinary workshop offered by the Musée de la vieille fromagerie Perron in Saint-Prime and make your own butter!
To learn more about various professions and to cultivate your passions:
- Cité de l'Or in Val-d'Or: Underground visit
- Écomusée du fier monde in Montréal: HABILIS - Gesture, mind and matter
- Eco-Nature | Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles in Laval: Animal attendant of the day workshop (1st and 3rd Sunday in July and August, 2024)
- La Pulperie de Chicoutimi / Musée régional in Chicoutimi: One passion, two wheels, three stories
- Manoir Boucher de Niverville in Trois-Rivières: how to make a doll out of plant material workshop (Saturday, August 24, 2024)
Heighten your ecological awareness
If you're a sailor at heart, come to Sainte-Anne-des-Monts at Exploramer for Musée du Fjord’s Tentacles and company, which playfully highlights the spectacular intelligence of tentacled animals and their essential role in biodiversity. Water lovers will also appreciate the The People of the Lac-Saint-Jean exhibition at Odyssée des Bâtisseurs in Alma, which will take them on a journey through Lac-Saint-Jean’s captivating history. Do you want to explore the aquatic environment even further? You're invited to the Marine Environment Discovery Centre of the Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park, where you can follow the divers as they explore the seabed in real time, as if you were there!
Discover other hidden powers of nature with an evening hike along L’écho des origines forest trail at the Musée de la Biodiversité in Bécancour. This interactive tour, featuring several multimedia works, will help you identify the threats facing the St. Lawrence Valley and understand your role in protecting it. At the Musée régional de la Côte-Nord in Sept-Îles, you can reflect on climate change through the works of multidisciplinary artist Oli Sorenson in the exhibition La Mort Climatique.
Are you a fan of contemporary art and eager to see more? Head for the Biophare in Sorel-Tracy, where Serge Roy's work reinterprets the relationship between humans and nature. In Montreal, at the Centre PHI, you'll be gripped by emotion as you watch Richard Mosse's film Broken Spectre, which documents the intensive deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
To rethink your relationship to nature:
- Centre d'exposition Léo-Ayotte in Shawinigan: Le secret de la chrysalide
- Cosmodôme in Laval: A New Moon Rises
- La Maison Léon-Provancher in Quebec City: discovery series Le Génie de la nature (Saturday the 20th and Sunday the 21st of July, 2024)
- MAC Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in Montréal:femmes volcans forêts torrents (until August 18th, 2024)
- Marais de la Rivière-aux-Cerises in Magog: Circuit Art et Nature (August 24 and 25, 2024)
- Musée du Fjord in Saguenay: Scientific excursions activity
- Saint-LaurentMaritime Park at Île-d'Orléans:Marcher sur les aurores boréales(until August 12, 2024)
Awaken your senses and feed your dreams
Take advantage of your museum outings to feed your imagination! At the Musée Louis-Hémon in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, get inspired by the authors featured in the new permanent exhibition Péribonka, à la source des mots. At the Centre d'art de Kamouraska, it's up to you to tell the real from the fake in the inventive exhibition Les roses imaginaires, which revisits Anne Hébert's famous novel Kamouraska. In Montreal, the Fondation Guido Molinari honours another literary genre with the permanent exhibition L’atelier de poésie de Fernande Saint-Martin et Guido Molinari, which highlights the protagonists’ contributions to the field of Quebec poetry.
Take the time to wander around! If you're in Montréal, make your way through the gardens of Maison Saint-Gabriel, Museum and Historic Site to take in the aromas of its history. In Gaspésie, the Site historique Gaspé, Berceau du Canada invites you to stroll through downtown Gaspé with a series of audio clips that recount the city’s history. At the Chapelle des Cuthbert in Lanaudière, listen to your surroundings with Thibaut Quinchon’s outdoor sound installation Au travers des âges.
To delight both your ears and your taste buds, combine the pleasures of the North Shore region: the Phare de Pointe-des-Monts invites you to join us on August 24 for a musical tasting of local produce! Then grab a seat for the interactive Banquet exhibition on the theme of gastronomy, put together by the Montréal Science Centre. And if you're a gourmet, you'll want more! Here's another event to mark your calendar: on September 15, 2024, the apple pie festival will be celebrated in the Eastern Townships, at the Missisquoi Historical Museum!
To keep your senses sharp:
Église Sainte-Amélie - Musée in Baie-Comeau : Sous la voûte des anges, l'univers de Nincheri
Espace Pauline-Julien in Trois-Rivières: Biennale nationale de sculpture contemporaine - installation Le reel oublié de Rémi Belliveau
Musée de la Santé Armand-Frappier à Laval: Food for Thought
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City: Apéros au jardin (Wednesday July 31 and August 7, 14 and 21)
Musée régional de Vaudreuil-Soulanges in Vaudreuil-Dorion: Causerie musicale Les accords de Félix (Saturday, August 24)
Uplands, Centre culturel et du patrimoine in Sherbrooke: The Uplands Tea Experience (until August 24)