With the weather getting colder and miserable-er, I’ve been seeking more indoor adventures around town. The Redpath Museum at McGill University is cozy and curious, and its natural history exhibits are free to the public. This albertasaurus skeleton dominates the main exhibition hall, and they also recently acquired a triceratops (which was not yet on display when I visited in early November). The second floor features an Egyptian Mummy which has been MRI-ed.
Built in 1882, the Redpath was the first building constructed to house a museum collection in Canada. It originally housed Sir William Dawson’s mineral collection, which has since been greatly expanded upon (Dawson was president principal of McGill University at that time, and also lent his name to Dawson College.) More on the building’s history and architecture here.
Check the museum website for their opening hours.
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Not to quibble but William Dawson was PRINCIPAL of McGill (not President). The Redpath IS a great Museum.
The Redpath is truly the hidden gem of Montreal museums, and strangely, is closed on Saturdays, but happily, open on Sundays. The seashell collection is stupendous, and don’t miss the rock garden outside the front entrance.
The Triceratops skull has now been installed in the gallery. The fossil was found in Southern Saskatchewan in 2006 by McGill students of a vertebrate paleontology field course.