Montreal's Museé des Beaux-Arts is housed in two buildings connected by an underground passage way. The main entrance is in the newer building. Adult admission of $15 gets you into all the special exhibits as well as a visit to the permanent collection.Despite having two buildings, at any given time, the Museé is only able to display part of its collection devoted to Canadian and international artists. Like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museé's collection ranges from contemporary to ancient artworks from North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is worthwhile to make repeated visits as the exhibitions change.The older neoClassical building houses special exhibits. When I visited, the treasures from the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg were on display. The special exhibit emphasized Catherine the Great's artistic interests and the opulence of her court. The ground floor has a grand staircase in the center. At the top of the staircase, sat her gold carriage making a very impressive start to the exhibit. Audio guides were offered as part of the exhibit but there were plenty of descriptive cards for the art and artifacts, and how they connected to Catherine the Great and her court. Viewing the number of works painted by famous artists at Catherine the Great's request tells you a lot about the wealth of the Russian court at that time and the connection Catherine the Great had to artists and thinkers. The exhibit was very popular. I went on a Tuesday at lunchtime and it was very crowded.Luckily, the permanent collection was not crowded with people. The newer building is very visitor friendly with low rise stairs which gently slope between the floors and a floor plan that takes you in a roughly circular tour through the collection. There are some old masters works in the upper levels and more contemporary Canadian works in the lower levels, but the Museé is not strictly organized according to culture and era. For example, works by contemporary Canadian artist, Nicolas Baier, were scattered throughout making an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast.The second level of the new building also houses a gift shop with lots of lovely items, and an extensive selection of art books and prints. There is also a cafe which gets good reviews and was full of contented looking diners during the lunch hour and afternoon I was there.The Museé can be viewed in a couple of hours, making it a pleasant visit for anyone interested in art. It is closed on Mondays. If you want to check the website to see what is currently on display: http://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/musee/index.html

The musuem is free, however the special exhibits which was at the time of my visit Herbert List cost $9.00. The museum is split into Two buildings (Jean-Noel Desmarais Pavillion and Michael & Renata Hornstein Pavillion/Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavillion) connected by a walkway underground.

The museum is home to a wide range of exhibits which are comprised of 19th/20th Century European contemporary art, Contemporary studio jewellery, Galleries of ancient culture, Canadian Art, Inuit Art and Decorative Arts from Renaissance to today.

The museum is beautiful inside, very light and airy. The modern additions to the museum are tastefully done and make it pleasurable to walk around. My particular favourite pieces were by Lalique, Georg Jensen, Dali and a bronze by Roden. There are some small stone steps up to each level and can be fantastic for exercising the legs. When you walk down them it can result is you walking like something out of the Monty Python sketch on Funny walks!.

A gift shop, cafe and bookstore can be found on level 1 of Jean Noel Desmarais Pavillion.

The museum opens between 11am and 6pm Tuesday to Sunday. Wednesday open until 9pm. Closed Mondays.

Bus #24 or Guy-Concordia Metro.

Telephone: (514) 285-1600.
Website: www.mmfa.qc.ca

We skipped the modern and Canadian section and went straight to the Levels 3 and 4. These exhibits were 19th and 20th century European Art and Masterprints of the Fifteenth through the Seventeenth Century. There were some excellent Italian, English, and French works here. The gallery was a nice size, and it took us a full hour just to go through two sections. Admission was free, so if you have any interest in art whatsoever, this gallery is worth your time.

We bought most of our souvenirs at the museum shop. I found a beautiful French journal, Christmas cards (in English), an artsy calendar, and a few gifts (notecards with paintings on them).