The Redpath Museum is one of Montréal's most remarkable and historic institutions — a natural history museum on the McGill University campus, housed in the oldest building constructed specifically for museum use in all of Canada. Completed in 1882, it was built by Sir William Dawson, Canada's foremost Victorian naturalist, and remains an active teaching and research unit within McGill's Faculty of Science, with its own faculty, undergraduate and graduate courses, and a minor in natural history. Each year it welcomes nearly 80,000 visitors and introduces more than 5,000 schoolchildren and students to the wonders of the natural world, all while pursuing serious scientific research into evolution, biodiversity, and the history of life on Earth.
The building itself is as fascinating as what it holds. With its elements of Victorian Classicism, the Redpath is an unusual and notably late example of the Greek Revival style in North America — a genuinely striking piece of architecture, from its grand Entrance Hall to its 120-seat Auditorium, both of which can be booked for events beneath its stunning historic detailing.
Inside, the collections span more than half a million objects, and the permanent exhibits trace an astonishing arc through time and place. The natural history galleries focus on the history of life in Québec and beyond, with fossils, minerals, and zoological specimens drawn from the museum's palaeontology, mineralogy, and zoology collections — everything from ancient invertebrates and vertebrates to mammals, birds, reptiles, shells, rocks, and gemstones. Alongside them, the World Cultures exhibits open a window onto human heritage across the globe, with holdings spanning Ancient Egypt (including a celebrated collection of mummies and antiquities), Africa, Oceania, the ancient Mediterranean, South America, and beyond.
More active and productive than ever, the Redpath Museum's mission is to foster an understanding and appreciation of our biological, geological, and cultural heritage through research, collections, and education — with projects that range from detailing some 3.5 billion years of life on the planet to examining how creatures and ecosystems are changing today. Free to visit and endlessly enriching, it's a true gem in the heart of Montréal — a place where architecture, history, and the natural sciences come together to tell the grand story of life itself.