Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History

All the history of Montréal in one place.

This is not just a building where artifacts are displayed, it is the actual site of the founding of Montréal. One of my favorite parts was the section of the 19th century main sewer that you can walk through. It is worth dedicating at least half a day to it.

J'ai vraiment adoré ma visite à la Pointe à Callière! C'était incroyable de découvrir l'histoire captivante de Montréal à travers les expositions fascinantes de ce lieu. L'atmosphère unique et la vue sur la ville en font un incontournable. Si vous visitez Montréal, je vous recommande chaudement de découvrir la Pointe à Callière. C'est une expérience qui mérite cinq étoiles!

It feels like a ripoff when a museum charges full price and 40% of their exhibitions are closed for repair/renovations. Why can't they adjust the price for this? The museum started off with an interesting immersive video of Montreal history. But like others have said (and like we see in the States too), the real events of the explorers and the Indigenous people is painted with a rosy brush. The museum is visibly interesting and uses a lot of technological flair to project signs and animations onto the ruins. It is also very confusing to navigate with little to no guidance on how to flow through. There were many school bus loads of children visiting for the afternoon. The first section of the museum is open to the floor above where the children were, so it was quite difficult to read or enjoy anything with that much activity. After getting through the whole place, you are unceremoniously dumped at the exit. And also on one of the floors, there's an unimpressive gift shop. Definitely didn't feel worth the money.

2 of 5 sections were closed amounting to a very short visit at the full experience cost ($17). There wasn’t much to see, and the brief amount shown was not spectacular.

Love this place! So many things to learn about Montréal. Part of the museum is also in the underground.

Super musée, incontournable pour en apprendre davantage sur l'histoire du Canada et de Montréal

Small underground museum with great interactive narration. It is quite an interesting way to show the history of Montreal. The two buildings with the temporary and permanent exhibitions connect, but with a wheelchair, there are areas that are very hard to access. The museum is generally fully accessible but also a bit hard to navigate. To note also that there are many doors that close at 4.45 not 5pm as advertised and the staff is eager to lock things up at 4.45pm. The full museum can take about 2 hours+
One more thing, I’ve noticed that many reviews mention that the staff is a bit cold and un-empathetic in the regular exhibit and we had a similar experience, this is why I am not ranking the museum higher.

It was interesting, very interactive and some history of Montreal and its history, erwas. Unfortunately, 2 compartments were locked, but the full price was charged. Oh well

Cela a été une très belle expérience,
Nous avons eu l'opportunité d'avoir une visite guidée qui nous a permis de véritablement comprendre le développement de la ville de Montréal. Notre guide suisse Patrick, a été tres complet sur les explications et a permis une belle interaction avec le groupe,

Nous recommandons ce musée

Exposition vraiment très bien faite si décrit l'histoire de Montréal de façon interactive. Prévoir deux heures et demi environ

Musée très intéressant et ludique où l'on apprend l'histoire de la ville.
Expo ludique sur les pirates qui devrait aussi plaire aux enfants.
Expo temporaire sur le cirque.

Had a great educational experience!
I thought we could finish up in 1-2 hours but end up exploring more than 3.5 hours.
Their cinematic show about the history is beyond great.
Sounds system are from Bose. No wonder it is good.

Highly recommend it!
Great educational experience about origin of Montreal, France and British influences.
Additional features about history of pirates and circuses

It was a pretty good museum with some items dating back to 1600's. Nice interactions in some areas and screen displaying information about the history.

Interesting historical museum showing how the city of Montreal came to be. I was impressed with the interior design and its tunnels.

Musée beaucoup plus grand qu'il n'y paraît avec ses plusieurs sections souterraines. Petit bémol, plusieurs écrans interactifs n'étaient pas fonctionnels. Dans l'ensemble très intéressant.

Honestly one of the most confusing and poorly designed museums I have ever been to:

1) if it weren't for attendants telling people which way to go it would be impossible to tell which direction the exhibits go.

2) the information within each exhibit is HIGHLY repetitive. They discuss nearly the same things in each section with slightly different information. Some exhibits leave out crucial information that others describe.

3) the information in each room essentially has nothing to do with the actual foundation the site is on. It was noble of the museum to try to use the early foundations as the setting for the museum, but the 90% of the information discussed is not at all relevant to the setting.

4) the exhibitions end on the opposite side of the street. We decided to just go back outside through rain/wind to grab our coats and umbrella because it was too confusing to go back through the museum.

Well worth a visit. It flows through the history of canada and is thoughorly educational.
You can learn more here than through a walking tour and it's cheaper.

The multimedia introduction presentation at the beginning was amazing. Well done!

The museum itself offers a wide range of information. Some were repeated a few times and the directions are not clear/confusing. Nevertheless, a good museum.

One of my favorite museums that I've visited on a yearly basis. However, the current Train exhibit is lacking. Would be good for a children's trip though.

Amazing experience. Learned a lot about Montreal history and the staff were friendly and helpful, made the trip more enjoyable.

Musée à faire si vous aimez l'histoire et les vestiges, c'est un lieu avec plusieurs facettes qui nous amène à la découverte des grandes lignes de son occupation

My husband and I came to Canada for the first time. The Montreal Museum of Archaeology was the first museum that we visited. The museum was great and we enjoyed a lot. After two hours of visiting, we were tired and decided to eat our snacks but one of the museum associates came to us and had an inappropriate behavior. He wanted us to wear masks and not to eat. He was so harsh and not respectful. We didn’t know the museum’s rules otherwise we wouldn’t eat. We had lots of many experiences with other museums but this time the staff’s behavior was not acceptable. We were so disappointed.

Montreal's best museum. When you think of archaeological museums in Europe, you get a very different picture. The museum uses technology to make the history of Montreal more interesting. You don't want to miss the exhibitions. I was lucky to see the temporary train and pirates exhibitions. I missed Peru and Egypt (few years ago), but I'm excited for next year's exhibitions.

Amazing! Every Montrealer should visit at least once. Plan for several hours for the full experience. Do not miss the Memory Collector, Where Montreal Began and Multimedia Show permanent exhibits. Also, the Italian Montreal temporary exhibit currently underway is really good. Admission prices are very affordable. This museum is great for tourists and locals alike. Highly recommend.

There is such a great number of things to see in Montreal it's easy to run out of time. Don't miss this outstanding collection of Montreal's history. We were fortunate to have Nicholas given us a guided tour. He was very happy to share the history of this great city. Take your time and enjoy the ruins, glass floor, sewer and so much more that makes this a one of a kind museum.

We were blown away by the underground archeology exhibit-a brilliant way to immerse visitors in history. The children around us seemed to love it too! (Although the Pirates and Privateers exhibit was probably the most exciting for the younger visitors). Beautiful, well-maintained and creative.

A stellar museum with more than meets the eye - I really enjoyed the variance in exhibits; everything from the deep history of Montreal to artifacts from the past to stories of the future. An engaging museum that’s worth your time and in a great location.

Very unique museum! Visited Montreal from Seattle and this was a great way to get acquainted and appreciate the history of the city, as this is a topic that I never knew much about in terms of one of Canada's largest cities and its beginnings. The entire experience took about 3 or 4 hours and we just had such a great time walking through everything.

Very enjoyable visit! The displays are very informative while being cleverly put together and visually interesting. There are some that are very child friendly and interactive and some more adult appropriate. Would recommend a visit to those who enjoy history or even just fun visuals. Staff were friendly and helpful in either French or English.

Very mixed opinion on this place, after visiting today with my wife and 2 year old kid. General impression is that the place is well run, and the presentation quality of all the exhibits is really high. I've visited museums around Canada, US, Europe and Asia, and this is definitely one of the better presented ones. The standouts were the temporary exhibit on trains, and the very kid-friendly and interactive one on privates. My kid loved them both!

However, I feel this place needs to get a low rating because of the Montreal history sections. Though well presented, the actual telling of the history is very distiburing. It paints a very do-good image of the white settlers; especially the "white savior" tone around any reference to Christianity and conversion of the Indigenous population. In this day and age, I expected these topics to be covered with more sensitivity and, ideally, with perspective provided by members of the Indigenous community. Instead, this felt like a propagandist view of history, which was very disappointing. I plan on writing the museum and hope they address these concerns.

La partie historique est bien menée et vraiment documentée! Déambuler dans les égouts à son charme.
En revanche les expositions en commandite sont d'une pauvreté navrante (Italiens a MTL + Trains). A ne pas comprendre quel est le but de la démarche?
Faire connaître? Promouvoir? Expliquer des détails historiques?
Noria d'objets rassemblés sans liens.

Vu que ce sont des expositions pour enfants je m'attendais à un peu plus d'explications et d'animation. Toutes l'information est la mais écrite aux murs donc avec des jeunes enfants cest un peu moins divertissant.

Musée très achalandé, le nombre de visiteurs n'est pas limité. Peut être qu'il faudrait mettre en place un système de réservation par horaire afin d'appliquer les règles de distanciation.qui ne sont pas vraiment respectées.
Cela est très étonnant de devoir limiter le nombre de personnes partout mais pas dans ce musée.

Toutefois l'exposition sur le train est très intéressante et enrichissante.
L'exposition permanente sur l'histoire de Montréal est complète grâce à toutes les salles interactive! Merci!

Very nice museum.dating back to Montreal's foundation days.railway museum was worth the money.great for kids and adult alike.
Pirate ship keeps kids engaged

Very nice museum, friendly staff and very worth the admission price. I was not aware there was so much to see, from the history of Montreal to the train exhibit. Highly recommended.

Un petit trésor de musée! Intelligente utilisation des sites archéologiques qui procure une expérience de plongée historique dans le berceau de Ville-Marie et de Montréal.

Went for the pirate exhibit. Loved the tunnel which greets you, which in fact was the largest working sewer at one point in time. Exhibit showing history of Montreal uncovered from several digs around the area, with some artifacts. Pirate boat was ok with a wheel kids can interact with, you can actually go aboard a makeshift pirate ship. Was expecting a little more like live pirates, but cirque de soleil it's not. Locomotive exhibit showing the influence it had on the city and travel was great with a running model train kids can admire. Back to the future display was a plus. Expect to spend 2 hrs here. Kids and adults can admire the exhibits together.

Great place. 9 year old daughter really enjoyed. She loved to see the evolution of Montreal city over time. Would have been better if just fewer people, but was expecting it, it is spring break for kids after all!

L'exposition "corsaires et pirates" est très jolie mais la logistique pour l'accueil est déplorable. Les familles doivent attendre une heure dehors en plein froid avant de pouvoir accèder au musée. L'achat de billet en ligne sert à rien. Il n'y a pas de réservation des plages horaires comme les autres musees à Montréal.

Awesome museum, very well curated. The fact that you are walking amidst where the actual history was preserved is so interesting, and you can feel the history beneath you.

Mesures de distanciation non respectées dans les files et non plus dans l’exposition que nous avons visité. Longue attente aussi pour entrer dans le musée et pour l’exposition sur les pirates. Gagnerait définitivement à avoir un système de réservation.

Excellent place to learn about the history of Montreal. Staff are very knowledgeable and smiling. Lots of interactive displays to keep young adults and children engaged.

Visité en 2015 (On devrait y retourner on le sait merci!) et on a bien aimé l'exposition sur "Les Grecs). Ok c'est loin d'être palpitant mais réussir avoir autant d'objet souvent unique dans un musée à Montréal c'est assez super. (Si on aime les antiquités rares fait à la main il y a plus de 1800 ans.
Dans le nez les photos souvenirs! Pas le droit d'en prendre!
Alors un gros 4 sur 5 pour des objets qu'on a retrouvé en photo sur Internet. On aurait du rester au salon à faire la visite finalement.

Nous allons au musée Pointe-à-Callière chaque année avec ma femme et les enfants. Il y a non seulement souvent de nouvelles expositions, mais la portion plus classique du musée est constamment en train de s'améliorer. Le passage dans le souterrain entre les deux bâtiments est magique, il permet de voir les ruines des premiers colons de Montréal. Si vous voulez passer une excellente journée en famille, direction le musée Pointe-à-Callière.

Very interactive, especially the pirate exhibit which was exceptionally well presented. The train exhibit was pretty interesting too.

Museum visit pandemic style = masks and lots of hand Sanitizer. The train exhibt is good, but the pirate ship in the basement is were kids have the most fun.

Strollers are possible but not recommended.

Cherchais l adresse. 350 place royale
Il y a 370 place royale coin st-paul ouest
350n est pas la le 350 place royale est le 165 place d'youville. Le 350 est la sur place royale au 350 d' y ou ville. 350 place d'youville faudrait aviser la toponymie de ville de mtl regarder ça et faire les modifications
Pcq le 350 place d y ou ville est sur la place royale et non sur la rue place royale

Montreal has a lot to offer and this museum is one not to miss, you will learn a lot about how Montreal was created, the museum offers interesting temporary exhibitions, I was there during the: " A table! Le repas Français se raconte" it was extremely well done and on a hot summer day it's nice and cool

Musée d'histoire et d'archéologie ayant pour thème les débuts de la ville de Montréal. Les expositions ont d'autres sujets. Très complet, familial. Idéal pour s'initier à l'Histoire.

There is a lot of history to cover here, so there are a lot of written descriptions. The younger crowd would like the pirate/corsair display and its interactive aspect.

Vraiment super.c était ma première fois mercredi dernier.super beau et moderne.on paye pour une exposition et on peut les visiter toutes.ca vaut le détour.

Magnifique musée a voir absolument. Tout le long de la visite, l'interprétation est superbe et réussi a nous faire sentir dans l'histoire a travers l'archéologie qu'il on si bien préservé et rendu visible dans tout le musée.

Fun and interesting museum of the city's rich history. Centred around Montreal's early history in the 17th century to the 1900s, the displays are well out together, certainly a must go for history buffs, and can easily be done in a half day.