Montréal locals and visitors will be treated to close encounters with some of the city’s most compelling historic figures in an impressive theatrical outdoor multimedia show that launches in May 2016.

Fascinating Encounters

Cité Mémoire, a large-scale film and technology extravaganza, lights up Old Montréal and the Old Port with dramatic images on many landmarks and surfaces such as the cobblestoned  rue St-Paul and the venerable stone walls along blvd. Saint-Laurent and rue de la Commune.

More than 80 projectors are screening after-dark tableaux that portray Montréal’s passion, diversity and creativity through vignettes of citizens, both famous and grassroots, including sports stars such as Maurice “The Rocket” Richard of hockey legend, and Jackie Robinson, who broke the colour barrier in baseball; poet Émile Nelligan; Huron chief Kondiaronk (2017), both a warrior and peacemaker; charitable pioneers of the 1600s Jeanne Mance (2017), who established the hospital Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal in 1645, and Sainte Marguerite d’Youville, who founded the Grey Nuns; and folk heroes such as Joe Beef, the colourful tavern owner and philanthropist and notorious stripper Lili St. Cyr who was jailed for defying the Catholic Church with her racy act at the Gayety Theatre.

“The tableaux are very human and the goal is to inspire emotion,” said Martin Laviolette, general manager of Montréal en Histoires, the arts and history organization that produces Cité Mémoire. “Most important is that Cité Mémoire is accessible. It is art of the street, free of charge and available to everyone.”

With Wi-Fi available throughout the Old Port, audio narration is available via a free mobile app. Visitors can choose between a daytime techno-historic tour or a nighttime circuit such as the film tableaux of Cité Mémoire.

Montréal’s Old Port is one of the most popular tourist locales in Québec and Cité Mémoire is the latest and most prominent artistic endeavour, adding sparkle as the city gears up for its 375th birthday in 2017.

An Artistic Collaboration

Cité Mémoire took 10 years to conceive by more than 300 artists, actors, musicians and production people led by multimedia maestros Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon of Lemieux Pilon 4D Art, in collaboration with playwright and screenwriter Michel Marc Bouchard.

Pilon and Lemieux are known for their innovative fusion of art forms and blending of fantasy, history and reality in their wildly successful productions such as Starmania and TORUK for Cirque du Soleil. Bouchard’s influential plays, including Lilies and Tom at the Farm, have been performed in many countries.

Travel Planner

Cité Mémoire is supported by BMO Financial Group, the City of Montréal, the governments of Québec and Canada and other partners. It runs nightly at dusk, from mid-May to mid-March, 2016–2019 (montrealenhistoires.com).