Place des Arts

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Place des Arts
Place des Arts de Montréal esplanade
Location	260, boulevard de Maisonneuve Ouest Montreal, Quebec H2X 1Y9
Coordinates	45°30′29″N 73°34′01″W / 45.508°N 73.567°W / 45.508; -73.567
Created	1963 (1963)
Status	Open all year
Public transit access	at Place-des-Arts station Place-des-Arts Terminus

Place des Arts is a major performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the largest cultural and artistic complex in Canada.^[1]

Home to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Métropolitain, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, and the Opéra de Montréal, the complex is situated between Saint Catherine and de Maisonneuve streets, and Saint-Urbain and Jeanne-Mance streets, in an area now known as the Quartier des spectacles in the borough of Ville-Marie.

Place des Arts was an initiative of Mayor Jean Drapeau, a noted lover of opera, as part of a project to expand the downtown core eastward from the concentration of business and financial activity in the centre-west part of downtown. The Corporation George-Étienne-Cartier, named in honour of George-Étienne Cartier, a Father of Confederation and opera lover, was set up to build it, and the first part of the complex (including the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) was inaugurated on September 21, 1963. The other theatres were added progressively.