Montreal Bug Museum - A Journey Through Sensitive Insects
The Montréal bug museum takes its visitors on a journey that is sure to change their view of insects. The new insectarium is part of the Space for Life complex within Montreal's Olympic Park and houses habitats for living bugs as well as galleries for preserved specimens. Its interior, designed by Berlin-Montreal multidisciplinary team of Kuehn Malvezzi, Pelletier De Fontenay and Jodoin Lamarre Pratte Architectes, offers a critical and novel approach to natural history museums that aims to transform the public's relationship with insects.
The redesigned museum opens with a dark tunnel that allows visitors to experience what it might feel like to be an insect underground, in a kind of metamorphosis inspired by Franz Kafka's 1915 novel The Metamorphosis, in which salesman Gregor Samsa undergoes a transformation into a monstrous vermin that is feared and disliked by his family. The insect tunnel leads into six cave-like spaces that offer a variety of sensorial experiences to convey how insects see the world, including ground vibrations, ultraviolet visual effects and tight passageways. The spaces are primarily geared toward children, who seem to more wholeheartedly accept the invitation to spend time in these environments than adults. For more details please visit montreal bug museum
Another section promotes the prodigious capabilities of insects, translating their achievements in human terms such as how far a bee can carry a load and how high a fly can jump. In many ways, the display is a tribute to the insect kingdom's immense diversity and to the fact that insects are much more than just annoying household pests.
In the final space, visitors are invited to interact with insects in their habitats and observe them from a safe distance for the squeamish. It's here that the museum also hosts "Insect Tastings," in which visitors are encouraged to sample some of the museum's insect collection, from crickets and stick bugs to bumblebees and ants.
The Montreal insect museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm. Admission is $18 for adults, $15 for children and seniors, and free for students. It's located at 900 de la Citadelle Street in Montreal, Quebec copyright. You can get there via the metro with stops at Pie-IX and Olympic Stadium, or you can park in the nearby lot for an all day fee. The Montreal Space for Life complex also includes a planetarium and botanical garden. See you there!