Place-des-Arts station is a

Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro (french: Métro de Montréal) is a rubber-tired underground rapid transit system serving Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The metro, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), was inaugurated on October 14, ...

station in the borough of Ville-Marie,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the

Société de transport de Montréal The Société de transport de Montréal (STM; en, Montreal Transit Corporation) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Ra ...

(STM) and serves the Green Line. The station opened on October 14, 1966, as part of the original network of the Metro. It is located in the Quartier des spectacles district, in east-central

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Overview

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

station built in

open cut Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining ...

under boul. De Maisonneuve, with two

ticket hall Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a tol ...

s joined by corridors that surround and overlook the platforms. The eastern

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

includes

staircases Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

with one-way exit-only turnstiles. The station is joined by

underground city An underground city is a series of linked subterranean spaces that may provide a defensive refuge; a place for living, working or shopping; a transit system; mausolea; wine or storage cellars; cisterns or drainage channels; or several of thes ...

Place des Arts Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...

and

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québe ...

, and has additional four street-level exits. The station's walls are coved in light-grey bricks in a zig-zag layout. The station is equipped with the MétroVision information screens which displays news, commercials, and the time until the next train arrives. The station has 4 entrances: : 1555, rue Jeanne-Mance : 2020, rue de Bleury : 1990, rue de Bleury : 150,

rue Ontario Ontario Street (officially in french: rue Ontario) is an east-west artery in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the boroughs of Ville-Marie and Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. In the latter borough, the street becomes a mix of residential ...

Architecture and art

The station features art by

Frédéric Back Frédéric Back (April 8, 1924 – December 24, 2013) was a Canadian artist and film director of short animated films.John L. Kennedy and Eugene Walz"Frédéric Back". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', November 4, 2007. During a long career with Rad ...

: a massive

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

mural entitled ''L'histoire de la musique à Montréal'' ("history of music in Montreal"). The work is composed of thousands of layered pieces of glass backlit by 105 lighting tubes and supported by a tonne of steel. The glass surface is rippled, causing the brilliant colours to shimmer ethereally. The work was originally intended to be an homage to four important Quebec musical artists: the composers

Calixa Lavallée Calixa Lavallée (December 28, 1842 – January 21, 1891) was a French-Canadian-American musician and Union Army band musician during the American Civil War. He is best known for composing the music for "O Canada," which officially became the n ...

Guillaume Couture Guillaume Couture (January 14, 1618 – April 4, 1701) was a citizen of New France. During his life he was a lay missionary with the Jesuits, a survivor of torture, a member of an Iroquois council, a translator, a diplomat, a militia captain, a ...

Alexis Contant Joseph Pierre Alexis Contant (12 November 1858 – 28 November 1918) was a Canadian composer, organist, pianist, and music educator. Trained as a pianist, he became one of the first Canadians to compose large-scale choral and orchestral works, ...

, and soprano

Dame Emma Albani Dame Emma Albani, DBE (born Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse; 1 November 18473 April 1930) was a Canadian-British operatic soprano of the 19th century and early 20th century, and the first Canadian singer to become an international star. H ...

. Unveiled on December 20, 1967, this stained glass was the first work of art to be commissioned for the Metro system. In 2008 the lighting system was completely renovated by the lighting artist

Axel Morgenthaler Axel may refer to: People * Axel (name), all persons with the name Places * Axel, Netherlands, a town ** Capture of Axel, a battle at Axel in 1586 Arts, entertainment, media * ''Axel'', a 1988 short film by Nigel Wingrove * ''Axel'', a Cirque d ...

. The second work of art is a hand-glazed ceramic mosaic by the artist

Saskia Siebrand Saskia is a Germanic feminine given name. There are at least two different sources of the name. One is of North German and Northeast Netherlands origin, where it originally meant "a Saxon woman" ( metathesis of "Saxia"). Notable people with the n ...

, installed in 2005. It contains tiles of over 300 colours, all custom hand-glazed. This architectural composition made of perforated aluminum panels was added to conceal a telecommunications room that had been added over the station's western tunnel opening. Before this work was added, the Montréal métro featured only one mosaic, the one by Gabriel Bastien and Andrea Vau at Sherbrooke station.

Accessibility

In March 2019, a real estate developer announced a new condo project on top of the De Bleury north entrance, and the entrance building was closed to the public. In the meantime, the STM also worked on improving the station's accessibility by installing three elevators from the street level to the platforms. The entrance building reopened on June 16, 2022 and the station became accessible on July 21, 2022.

Origin of the name

This station is named for the

cultural complex. Opened in 1963, this complex includes five concert halls, including the largest multipurpose concert hall in Canada, and an art museum.

Connecting bus routes

Nearby points of interest

Connected via the underground city

* UQAM (pavillons Président-Kennedy, Chimie, Biochimie, and Arts IV) *

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex. Founded in 1964, it is ...

Complexe Desjardins Complexe Desjardins is a mixed-use office, hotel, and shopping mall complex located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the Quartier des spectacles area of Saint Catherine Street.Hydro-Québec Building The Hydro-Québec Building (french: Édifice Hydro-Québec) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada stands at with 27 floors. Completed in 1962, it houses the headquarters for Hydro-Québec as well the Montreal offices of the Premier of Quebec. The buildin ...

* Place-d'Armes Metro station and points south

Other

* Quartier des Spectacles * Église du Gesù * Cinéma Imperial

Film and television appearances

Scenes of the 2017

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

film '' John Wick: Chapter 2'' were filmed at the station. The station was redressed to stand in for a

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

station.

References

External links

Place-des-Arts Metro - official site

Montreal by Metro, metrodemontreal.com
- photos, information, and trivia
2011 STM System Map

2011 Downtown System Map

{{Authority control Green Line (Montreal Metro) Railway stations in Canada opened in 1966 Quartier des spectacles