The Montreal Biodome (french: Biodôme de Montréal) is a facility located at Olympic Park in the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, Canada, that allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. The building was originally constructed for the 1976 Olympic Games as a velodrome with 2,600 seats. It hosted both

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...

and

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

events. Renovations on the building began in 1989 and in 1992 the indoor nature exhibit was opened. The Montreal Biodome is one of four facilities that make part of the largest natural science museum complex in Canada,

Space for Life Space for Life (french: Espace pour la vie) is a museum district in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It brings together the city's four most prominent natural museums: the Montreal Biodome and the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, situated in Montreal's Olym ...

, which also includes the Montreal Insectarium, Montreal Botanical Garden, and

Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium The Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium (french: Planétarium Rio Tinto Alcan) is the successor to the Montreal Planetarium, and is located in the Espace pour la Vie, near the Olympic Stadium and the Biodome in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The new instal ...

. It is an accredited member of both the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the

Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) (french: Aquariums et Zoos Accrédités du Canada (AZAC)) is an accreditation and advocacy organization representing zoos and aquariums within Canada. The organization states that its member zoos and a ...

association (CAZA).

History

The building was designed by French architect Roger Taillibert as part of his larger plan for an Olympic park that included the Montreal Olympic Stadium and the Olympic pool. The venue was a combined velodrome and

facility. Construction of the building began in August 1973, and the facility was officially opened in April 1976. The velodrome, along with the accompanying

Olympic pool An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

, inspired Tallibert's later designs for Luxembourg's National Sports and Culture Centre. In 1988, a feasibility study was conducted for converting the velodrome into a biodome. Construction started in 1989, and the facility was opened to the public on 18 June 1992 as the Montreal Biodome. In the summer of 2003, the Biodome installed an audio guide system that lets visitors get information about what they are viewing, and also provides statistics to the facility about what the visitors find most interesting. Visitors can rent a receiver programmed to receive French, Spanish, or English for adults, or French or English for children.

Exhibits

The facility allows visitors to walk through replicas of four ecosystems found in the Americas: * The Tropical Forest is a replica of the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

n rainforest. * The Laurentian Forest is a replica of the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

n wilderness. * The Saint Lawrence Marine Eco-system is an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

habitat modelled on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. *The Sub-Polar Region is a habitat that is divided into

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

and

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and othe ...

. All the exhibits are housed inside the former velodrome (cycling stadium) that was used for the cycling and judo events of the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

, with each of the four environments taking up a portion of the stadium. A variety of animals live in each simulated habitat, ranging from the

macaw Macaws are a group of New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation concerns about several species in the wild. Biology Of the many differ ...

s in the Tropical Forest, to the lynx in the Laurentian Forest, to the

penguin Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adap ...

s in the Antarctic and the different kinds of

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

that inhabit the waters of the Saint Lawrence River. As well, two new species have been discovered living in the Biodome: the acarian ''Copidognathus biodomus'' in the simulated estuary in 1996, and the

bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...

''Nitratireductor aquibiodomus'' in the water reprocessing system in 2003.

Renovation

In October 2015, it was announced that both the Biodome and the Insectarium would be closing their doors to the public from September 2016 to December 2017, in order to be renovated, as part of the city of Montreal's 375th anniversary; however, in August 2016, the mayor of Montreal cancelled the contract to renovate the Biodome, because the bid results received by the city were much higher than the initial estimates. The facelift project went back to a bidding process. The Biodome closed for renovations on April 2, 2018. The reopening was pushed back from September 2019 to December 2019, and then to the spring of 2020 due to a shortage of supplies and specialized labourers. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

caused additional delays, and the Biodome finally reopened to the public on August 31, 2020. A mobile app was also released, offering augmented reality features and more in-depth information about the different plants and animals.

Gallery

Image:MontrealOlympicTowerAndBiodome1.jpg, The Biodome, in front of the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

Image:Biodome.jpg, View from above Image:Biodome 1.jpg, Inside the Biodome (Laurentian Forest area) Image:Penguin in Captivity.JPG, Some

s in the polar area

References

External links

*
Space for Life Foundation home page

''The Glass Ark''
a

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...