History of the Monument-National

Built between 1891 and 1893, the Monument-National is the oldest theatre still in use today in Quebec and is now owned by the National Theatre School of Canada. Officially opened on 24 June 1893 by the Association Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal (the present-day St-Jean-Baptiste Society), the Monument-National was situated at the historical interface between the Francophone neighbourhoods (to the east) and the Anglophone areas (to the west). With its daring architecture and imposing dimensions, the Monument-National was the first “monument,” as such, to celebrate the glory of the French-Canadian “nation” and this is why it was called the “National Monument.”