Montréal Insectarium takes flight
This article was published on November 17, 2023.
The Montréal Insectarium is the first museum in North America where visitors are able to mix with a number of live and naturalized insect species, giving observers the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of insects.
Reinventing our relationship with insects
Part of Espace pour la vie, the largest natural sciences museum complex in Canada which also comprises the Botanical Garden, Planetarium, Biodôme and Biosphere, the Insectarium first opened in 1990.
In March 2019 the Insectarium closed for three years to undergo its $38.4 million “Metamorphosis” reconstruction project. The new Insectarium opened in April 2022 and is 40 per cent larger. Visitors can now see more than 3,000 species of insects including the Orchid praying mantis and Umtali flower beetle, as well as some 1,500 free-flying butterflies. The museum also houses more than 3,000 plants of 150 different varieties.
“Still too often little known and underestimated, insects are essential for keeping our ecosystems and our society in balance,” explains Insectarium director Maxim Larrivée. “A sweeping change with regard to the place and the importance of insects in our societies is needed.”
Metamorphosis at the Insectarium
Via innovative museology, the Insectarium seeks to transform visitors’ relationship with insects to help us develop a positive attitude towards them.
When entering the Insectarium, a dark tunnel designed to make people feel like an insect underground leads visitors inside the museum which is divided into four spaces: The Alcoves, Tête-à-Tête, The Dome and The Great Vivarium.
The Alcoves, for example, enables visitors to see the world as an insect does, from ground vibrations, projected ultraviolet visual effects that mimic an insect’s vision, to navigating human-size blades of grass.
“By this point, you are beginning to think like an insect, which is the unlikely mission of the Insectarium,” The Globe and Mail’s architecture critic Alex Bozikovic observed. The Insectarium, he added, “combines architecture and exhibition design to powerful effect. It is one of the most thoughtful works of architecture Canada has seen in decades.”
In April 2023 the Insectarium was awarded the Grand prix d'excellence en architecture by the Ordre des architectes du Québec, and in October 2023 it was awarded the Prix Excellence by the Société des musées du Québec.
Tips for visitors
Download the Espace pour la vie application for additional content and gives you an identification tool at your fingertips. The mobile app is available for free on Apple Store and Play Store, and is compatible with iOS and Android mobile platforms. If you don’t have a compatible mobile device, touch screens set up along the museum circuit can be consulted at all times.
The use of a baby carrier or umbrella stroller is recommended to ease visitor circulation along Insectarium pathways. The unidirectional circuit includes some narrow, cramped pathways that may not be suitable for people suffering from claustrophobia, but is easily accessible for everyone.
Online reservation of timed tickets is strongly recommended.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.