The Monument-National is a historic Canadian theatre located at 1182

Saint Laurent Boulevard Saint Laurent Boulevard, also known as Saint Lawrence Boulevard (officially in french: boulevard Saint-Laurent), is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A commercial artery and cultural heritage site, the street runs north–south through ...

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 ...

. With a capacity of over 1,600 seats, the venue was erected between 1891 and 1894 and was originally the cultural centre of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. The building was designed by Maurice Perrault, Albert Mesnard, and

Joseph Venne Joseph Venne (1858–1925) was a prominent Canadian architect whose practice was located in Montreal, Quebec. During a long and distinguished career he designed more than sixty buildings in the Montreal area and three large catholic churches in M ...

in the

Renaissance Revival style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

and utilizes a steel frame—a building technique that was innovative for its time.

Yiddish theatre

The first performance of a

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

play was held there in what is now the theatre's Ludger-Duvernay room in the winter of 1896. The Monument-National was a key cultural landmark in Montreal's historic Jewish quarter, and it continued to host productions from touring and local Yiddish theatre companies until the 1940s.

Renovations and current status

The theatre was declared a historic monument by the

Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec The Ministry of Culture and Communications (french: Ministère de la Culture et des Communications ) is responsible for promoting and protecting the culture in the Canadian province of Quebec. The current Minister is Nathalie Roy.National Historic Site in 1985. A major restoration project of the theatre was completed in June 1993 in time for the theatre's centennial celebration. The 1,620-seat theatre has been owned by the

National Theatre School of Canada The National Theatre School of Canada (NTS, french: École nationale de théâtre du Canada) is a private institution of professional theatre studies in Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1960, the NTS receives its principal funding from grants ...

since 1971, and it is the venue used for its productions.

References

External links

History of the Monument-National
{{Authority control Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Montreal National Historic Sites in Quebec Theatres in Montreal Theatres on the National Historic Sites of Canada register Heritage buildings of Quebec Jewish Canadian history Jews and Judaism in Montreal Yiddish culture in Canada Yiddish theatre Theatres completed in 1894 Quartier des spectacles Renaissance Revival architecture in Canada University and college buildings in Canada 1894 establishments in Quebec