# Roots Earth in Montreal: audio stories about 50 places Canonical: https://rootsearth.com/cities/montreal Published: 16 September 2026 Roots Earth has audio stories about 50 places in Montreal, Canada, in North America. The Montreal stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Montreal, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people. The 50 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026. ## The 50 places in Montreal with audio stories In the order the app shows them. 1. Notre-Dame Basilica 2. Saint Joseph's Oratory 3. Old Montreal 4. Mount Royal 5. Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel 6. Place Jacques-Cartier 7. Bonsecours Market 8. Montreal City Hall 9. Place d'Armes 10. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 11. Pointe-à-Callière Museum 12. Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral 13. Christ Church Cathedral 14. Saint Patrick's Basilica 15. Habitat 67 16. Olympic Stadium 17. Montreal Tower 18. Montreal Biodome 19. Montreal Botanical Garden 20. Jacques Cartier Bridge 21. Old Port of Montreal 22. Clock Tower 23. Place Ville Marie 24. Sun Life Building 25. Dorchester Square 26. Place du Canada 27. Maisonneuve Monument 28. McCord Stewart Museum 29. Place des Arts 30. Montreal Science Centre 31. St. James United Church 32. Aldred Building 33. Montreal Biosphere 34. La Ronde 35. Jean-Talon Market 36. Atwater Market 37. Plateau Mont-Royal 38. Mile End 39. Schwartz's 40. Saint Laurent Boulevard 41. Chinatown 42. Gay Village 43. Little Italy 44. La Fontaine Park 45. Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery 46. Mount Royal Cemetery 47. Saint Catherine Street 48. Saint-Paul Street 49. Saint-Henri 50. Griffintown ## Is there an audio guide for Notre-Dame Basilica? Yes. Notre-Dame Basilica has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. It is place 1 of the 50 Montreal places in the app, at 45.50444, -73.55611. Every one of the other 49 places in the list above has the same two stories. Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself. ## How to use Roots Earth in Montreal Open Roots Earth and choose Montreal. The city has its own map of places with all 50 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order. You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. --- **In full** All 50 places in Montreal, in the app's order, with their coordinates. ## All 50 places in Montreal, with coordinates Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print. ### 1. Notre-Dame Basilica - Coordinates: 45.50444, -73.55611 - In one line: A Gothic Revival masterpiece on Place d'Armes, Notre-Dame Basilica is famous for its deep-blue vaulted ceiling scattered with golden stars. Built between 1824 and 1829, it welcomes about one million visitors annually. ### 2. Saint Joseph's Oratory - Coordinates: 45.49167, -73.61667 - In one line: Canada's largest church crowns the slope of Mount Royal with one of the world's biggest domes. Begun in 1904 by the healer Brother André and finished in 1967, the Oratory draws more than two million pilgrims and visitors each year. ### 3. Old Montreal - Coordinates: 45.505, -73.555 - In one line: Founded in 1642 as Fort Ville-Marie, Old Montreal is the city's historic core, a quarter of cobbled streets, stone warehouses and 17th to 19th century architecture beside the Saint Lawrence River. Once Canada's commercial heart, it is now a beloved heritage district. ### 4. Mount Royal - Coordinates: 45.50639, -73.58889 - In one line: The green hill at the city's heart, Mount Royal rises 233 metres above Montreal and gives the city its name. ### 5. Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel - Coordinates: 45.51, -73.55111 - In one line: Known as the Sailors' Church, this Old Montreal chapel was founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys in 1655 and rebuilt in 1771. Mariners once hung model ships from its ceiling in thanks for safe voyages, and a harbour-facing statue of the Virgin still watches over the river. ### 6. Place Jacques-Cartier - Coordinates: 45.50789, -73.553 - In one line: The lively heart of Old Montreal, this sloping plaza runs downhill toward the Old Port. Laid out in the early 19th century and named for explorer Jacques Cartier in 1847, it now buzzes with street performers, cafés and market stalls. ### 7. Bonsecours Market - Coordinates: 45.50889, -73.55139 - In one line: A Neoclassical landmark of Old Montreal with a gleaming silver dome, Bonsecours Market was constructed from 1844 to 1847. It served as city hall from 1852 to 1878 and was the main public market for over a century. Today it holds shops and restaurants. ### 8. Montreal City Hall - Coordinates: 45.5086, -73.5539 - In one line: Montreal City Hall, built between 1872 and 1878 in the Second Empire style, anchors Old Montreal with its ornate stone facade and central clock tower. From its balcony, Charles de Gaulle delivered his famous 1967 speech. ### 9. Place d'Armes - Coordinates: 45.50472, -73.55722 - In one line: Place d'Armes is one of Old Montreal's oldest public squares, framed by Notre-Dame Basilica, the Bank of Montreal, and the New York Life Building. Its Maisonneuve monument, unveiled in 1895, honours the city's founder. ### 10. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Coordinates: 45.4987, -73.5801 - In one line: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1860 with its marble Beaux-Arts pavilion opened in 1912, is among Canada's largest and most visited art museums, spanning five pavilions across Sherbrooke Street in the Golden Square Mile. ### 11. Pointe-à-Callière Museum - Coordinates: 45.5026, -73.5542 - In one line: Pointe-à-Callière, opened in 1992 on the spot where Montreal was founded in 1642, is an archaeology museum built over Fort Ville-Marie. Its underground crypt reveals the city's earliest foundations beneath the modern Éperon building. ### 12. Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral - Coordinates: 45.49919, -73.56836 - In one line: Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, built in the late 19th century as a scaled replica of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, is the seat of Montreal's Catholic archdiocese, crowned by a dome rising nearly 77 metres. ### 13. Christ Church Cathedral - Coordinates: 45.50361, -73.57 - In one line: Christ Church Cathedral, an 1859 Gothic Revival landmark and seat of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, famously rests on stilts above an underground shopping mall, its stone spire standing over the modern concourse below. ### 14. Saint Patrick's Basilica - Coordinates: 45.5035, -73.5647 - In one line: Saint Patrick's Basilica, completed in 1847 in the Gothic Revival style, is the spiritual home of Montreal's Irish Catholic community, known for its painted interior, towering oak columns, and the historic Charlotte bell. ### 15. Habitat 67 - Coordinates: 45.5, -73.54389 - In one line: Habitat 67 is a striking modular housing complex of 354 stacked concrete cubes on the Saint Lawrence shore, designed by Moshe Safdie for Expo 67. It reimagined dense city living with private gardens, terraces, and light for every home. ### 16. Olympic Stadium - Coordinates: 45.558, -73.552 - In one line: Montreal's Olympic Stadium is a vast curving concrete shell built for the 1976 Summer Games and designed by Roger Taillibert. Famous for its troubled retractable roof and enormous costs, it long hosted the Expos and remains a striking landmark of organic modern architecture. ### 17. Montreal Tower - Coordinates: 45.5598, -73.5522 - In one line: The Montreal Tower leans dramatically over the Olympic Stadium at 165 metres, the tallest inclined tower in the world. ### 18. Montreal Biodome - Coordinates: 45.55972, -73.54972 - In one line: The Montreal Biodome recreates five ecosystems of the Americas inside the former 1976 Olympic velodrome. Opened in 1992, its tropical rainforest, maple forest, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and polar habitats shelter thousands of animals and plants under one curving roof. ### 19. Montreal Botanical Garden - Coordinates: 45.55722, -73.55681 - In one line: Founded in 1931, the Montreal Botanical Garden spreads across 75 hectares with roughly 22,000 plant species. Its renowned Chinese and Japanese gardens, greenhouses, and themed grounds make it one of the world's great botanical gardens and a National Historic Site of Canada. ### 20. Jacques Cartier Bridge - Coordinates: 45.52083, -73.535 - In one line: Opened in 1930, the Jacques Cartier Bridge is a steel truss cantilever span crossing the Saint Lawrence River. Stretching over 3,400 metres, it carries a famous curve and the interactive Living Connections light installation that illuminates it nightly. ### 21. Old Port of Montreal - Coordinates: 45.50489, -73.55239 - In one line: The Old Port of Montreal stretches two kilometres along the Saint Lawrence beside the historic city. Once the bustling heart of trade, it was redeveloped in the early 1990s into a lively waterfront of museums, a clock tower, a Ferris wheel, and festivals. ### 22. Clock Tower - Coordinates: 45.51409, -73.5455 - In one line: A white concrete tower rising 45 metres over the Old Port, completed in 1922 as a memorial to merchant sailors who died in the First World War. Its four glass clock faces echo the design of Big Ben. ### 23. Place Ville Marie - Coordinates: 45.5015, -73.5684 - In one line: A cruciform glass skyscraper rising 188 metres over downtown, designed by I. M. Pei's firm and completed in 1962. Its rotating rooftop beacon sweeps the night sky, and its plaza anchors Montreal's vast underground city. ### 24. Sun Life Building - Coordinates: 45.50021, -73.57023 - In one line: A colossal granite office block on Dorchester Square, built in stages in 1914–1918, 1923–1926, and 1928–1933. Once the largest building by floor area in the British Empire, it secretly sheltered Britain's gold reserves during the Second World War. ### 25. Dorchester Square - Coordinates: 45.49962, -73.57097 - In one line: A landscaped downtown square laid out in the 1870s on the site of a former cholera cemetery. Ringed by grand buildings and dotted with monuments, it serves as a green heart and gathering place at the centre of Montreal. ### 26. Place du Canada - Coordinates: 45.49838, -73.56892 - In one line: A civic square south of Dorchester Square, once part of Dominion Square and renamed in 1967. It holds the John A. Macdonald monument and the Montreal Cenotaph, where the city gathers each Remembrance Day. ### 27. Maisonneuve Monument - Coordinates: 45.50472, -73.55722 - In one line: A bronze monument in Place d'Armes honouring Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, founder of Montreal. Sculpted by Louis-Philippe Hébert and unveiled in 1895, it surrounds his figure with four key figures from the colony's earliest years. ### 28. McCord Stewart Museum - Coordinates: 45.5044, -73.5737 - In one line: A social history museum on Sherbrooke Street, founded in 1921 by David Ross McCord. Holding 2. 5 million objects, including the famed Notman photographic archive, it tells the story of Montreal and its peoples. ### 29. Place des Arts - Coordinates: 45.508, -73.567 - In one line: Canada's largest performing-arts complex, opened in 1963 at the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles. Six concert halls and theatres host the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the opera, ballet, and the famous summer jazz festival on its open plaza. ### 30. Montreal Science Centre - Coordinates: 45.505, -73.55 - In one line: An interactive science museum on the Old Port's King Edward Pier, opened in 2000. ### 31. St. James United Church - Coordinates: 45.5054, -73.5686 - In one line: A soaring Gothic Revival church on Saint Catherine Street, completed in 1889 as the largest Methodist church in Canada. For decades its grand facade hid behind storefronts, until a 2005 restoration revealed it again to the street. ### 32. Aldred Building - Coordinates: 45.505, -73.55667 - In one line: A stepped Art Deco tower on Place d'Armes, completed in 1931 and often compared to the Empire State Building. Its 23 limestone storeys rise in dramatic setbacks beside Notre-Dame Basilica, a skyscraper shaped to honour its historic neighbours. ### 33. Montreal Biosphere - Coordinates: 45.51409, -73.53149 - In one line: A vast geodesic dome on Saint Helen's Island, built by Buckminster Fuller as the United States Pavilion for Expo 67. A 1976 fire stripped its acrylic skin, and the steel sphere now houses an environment museum opened in 1995. ### 34. La Ronde - Coordinates: 45.5225, -73.535 - In one line: Montreal's largest amusement park, opened in 1967 as the fun fair of Expo 67 on Saint Helen's Island. Now home to roller coasters and an international fireworks competition, it draws thrill-seekers across the river every summer. ### 35. Jean-Talon Market - Coordinates: 45.53589, -73.61522 - In one line: A sprawling open-air market in the heart of Little Italy, open since 1933 and among the largest in North America. Hundreds of farmers, cheesemongers, and bakers fill its stalls with the colours and smells of Quebec's seasons. ### 36. Atwater Market - Coordinates: 45.47945, -73.57663 - In one line: Opened in 1933 beside the Lachine Canal, Atwater Market is a beloved Art Deco market hall in Saint-Henri. Inside are butchers and bakers; outside, farmers sell produce, cheese, and flowers beneath a landmark clock tower. ### 37. Plateau Mont-Royal - Coordinates: 45.52165, -73.57545 - In one line: A dense, creative borough northeast of downtown, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal is famous for its colorful triplexes, curling outdoor staircases, leafy squares, and bohemian energy. Home to writers Michel Tremblay and Mordecai Richler, it remains one of Montreal's most beloved neighborhoods. ### 38. Mile End - Coordinates: 45.525, -73.58333 - In one line: A famously creative quarter in the Plateau borough, Mile End blends old immigrant roots with bagel bakeries, indie music, and comic publishing. Once a Jewish, then Greek and Portuguese neighborhood, it became the heart of Montreal's independent arts scene. ### 39. Schwartz's - Coordinates: 45.51625, -73.5777 - In one line: Founded in 1928 on Saint-Laurent Boulevard by Romanian immigrant Reuben Schwartz, this narrow delicatessen is the most famous home of Montreal smoked meat. Its hand-carved sandwiches and ten-day cure draw long lines of locals and visitors alike. ### 40. Saint Laurent Boulevard - Coordinates: 45.51016, -73.56443 - In one line: Known as The Main, Saint-Laurent Boulevard runs about 11 kilometers across Montreal, dividing the city east from west. For generations the gateway for immigrants, this National Historic Site threads through Chinatown, the old Jewish quarter, Little Portugal, Mile End, and Little Italy. ### 41. Chinatown - Coordinates: 45.50759, -73.5608 - In one line: Centered on the pedestrian stretch of De la Gauchetiere Street, Montreal's Chinatown took shape in the 1890s around early Chinese immigrants and railway workers. Marked by four ornate paifang gates, it overflows with dim sum, Cantonese seafood, and Vietnamese pho. ### 42. Gay Village - Coordinates: 45.51883, -73.5558 - In one line: Stretching along Sainte-Catherine Street East, Montreal's Gay Village is among the largest in North America by area. Emerging in the early 1980s, it is known for its summer pedestrian mall, rainbow-pillared metro entrance, lively bars, and the Fierté Montreal pride festival. ### 43. Little Italy - Coordinates: 45.53161, -73.61903 - In one line: Montreal's Italian heart along Saint-Laurent Boulevard, shaped by waves of postwar immigration. Cafes, the Madonna della Difesa church, and the sprawling Jean-Talon Market keep the neighborhood lively, fragrant, and proudly Italian-Canadian. ### 44. La Fontaine Park - Coordinates: 45.5267, -73.5689 - In one line: A 34-hectare green expanse in the Plateau, opened in 1874 on former farmland and military ground. Two linked ponds, leafy paths, and an open-air theatre make it a beloved gathering place for Montrealers in every season. ### 45. Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery - Coordinates: 45.50178, -73.60608 - In one line: Canada's largest cemetery by burials, founded in 1854 on Mount Royal's slopes. With around one million graves across 139 hectares of winding lanes, this Catholic resting place is part necropolis, part landscaped garden, and part open-air history book. ### 46. Mount Royal Cemetery - Coordinates: 45.508, -73.599 - In one line: A serene garden cemetery established in 1852 on Mount Royal's north slope, originally Protestant and now non-denominational. Across 67 hectares of terraced lawns and rare trees, it shelters Montreal's notable dead and doubles as a celebrated arboretum and birding spot. ### 47. Saint Catherine Street - Coordinates: 45.51013, -73.56353 - In one line: Montreal's main commercial artery, an 11-kilometer ribbon of shops, theatres, and crowds that grew organically after 1736. Once lined with grand department stores, it still pulses as downtown's backbone and the spine of the Gay Village. ### 48. Saint-Paul Street - Coordinates: 45.50534, -73.55389 - In one line: Montreal's oldest street, laid out in 1672 and still paved with cobblestones. Running through Old Montreal past Bonsecours Market, this historic two-kilometer thoroughfare brims with galleries, shops, and the city's deepest French colonial roots. ### 49. Saint-Henri - Coordinates: 45.47716, -73.58651 - In one line: A storied working-class quarter in Montreal's southwest, born of tanneries and the Lachine Canal. Immortalized in Gabrielle Roy's novel The Tin Flute, Saint-Henri now blends industrial heritage, Atwater Market, and rapid gentrification. ### 50. Griffintown - Coordinates: 45.48756, -73.56677 - In one line: Once an Irish working-class quarter beside the Lachine Canal, Griffintown grew with Montreal's industry, fell into decline, and now booms with condo towers rising over the ghosts of demolished churches and factories. ## Roots Earth in short Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people. - No account - Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection - Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities Roots Earth for Android is available on Google Play: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootsearth.app). ## More from Roots Earth - [North America in the Roots Earth catalogue](https://rootsearth.com/cities#north-america): every city in North America with its number of places and its languages. - [What Roots Earth is](https://rootsearth.com/app): the app in one page, how it works and what is in it. - [Questions travellers ask](https://rootsearth.com/faq): the cities, the languages, the account, listening without a connection. - [The 7 languages](https://rootsearth.com/languages): the seven languages with their codes and how many cities each one covers. - [Halifax](https://rootsearth.com/cities/halifax): 40 places in Canada with audio stories. - [Ottawa](https://rootsearth.com/cities/ottawa): 42 places in Canada with audio stories. - [Quebec City](https://rootsearth.com/cities/quebec-city): 45 places in Canada with audio stories. - [Toronto](https://rootsearth.com/cities/toronto): 48 places in Canada with audio stories. 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