Place des Arts

Place des Arts
Place des Arts
	Place des Arts cultural complex entrance, view from Sainte-Catherine Street.
Location	Quartier des Spectacles, Ville-Marie, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Coordinates	45°18′11″N 73°20′25″W / 45.30314°N 73.34021°WCoordinates: 45°18′11″N 73°20′25″W / 45.30314°N 73.34021°W
Created	1963
Status	Open all year
Public transit access	Place-des-Arts (Montreal Metro)

Place des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, and the largest cultural and artistic complex in Canada.

Located in the eastern part of the city's downtown, between Ste-Catherine and de Maisonneuve Streets, and St-Urbain and Jeanne-Mance streets, in an area now known as the Quartier des Spectacles, the complex is home to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the Opéra de Montréal.

Digital artwork displayed on screens inside the Place des Arts cultural complex.

Place des Arts was an initiative of Mayor Jean Drapeau, a noted lover of opera, as part of a project to expand the downtown core eastward from the concentration of business and financial activity in the centre-west part of downtown. The Corporation George-Étienne-Cartier, named in honour of George-Étienne Cartier, a Father of Confederation and opera lover, was set up to build it, and the first part of the complex (including the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) was inaugurated on September 21, 1963. The other theatres were added progressively. The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal was added to the complex on May 28, 1992.

History[edit]

The province of Quebec will spend CDN $34.2 million to change its esplanade into a large outdoor stage that to host big events year round .^[1]

Theatres[edit]

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 right

The Place des Arts includes six halls of various sizes:

Montreal Symphony House
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
Théâtre Maisonneuve
Théâtre Jean-Duceppe
Studio-théâtre
Cinquième salle

Construction of a new concert hall for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra was completed in 2011 at the cost of C$105 million and seats approximately 1,900 spectators.

This wealth of theatres permits the staging of opera, symphony, ballet and other dance, chamber music, choral music, theatre, film presentation, and various other presentations and ceremonies. In addition to the theatres, the complex hosts the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, a museum of contemporary art, as well as rehearsal halls, shops, services, and a large, popular esplanade decorated with original fountains and water cascades.

All the various facilities are connected by an underground mall, also linked to Place-des-Arts Metro station and Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) to the north and the Complexe Desjardins to the south as part of the Underground City.

The site is decorated with several works of public art including L'artiste est celui qui fait voir l'autre côté des choses by Claude Bettinger, Comme si le temps… de la rue by Pierre Granche, and La voie lactée by Geneviève Cadieux. A bust of conductor Wilfrid Pelletier by sculptor Arto Tchakmaktchian is on permanent display in the entrance hall.

In the summer the esplanade and the street in front of it make up one of the important outdoor sites of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

Works[edit]

Pierre Granche's Comme si le temps... de la rue, an ensemble of symbolic aluminium free-standing sculptures in a large fountain basin visible from the exterior and interior of Place des Arts, Montreal, Quebec
Installation by Claude Bettinger, Place des Arts, Montreal, Quebec