1. The Monument-National in the City
2. A Community Under Threat in a Changing World
3. The Early Years: the Monument’s "Open Arms"
4. The Monument-National and the Women’s Movement
5. The Monument-National: A Breeding Ground of New Ideas and a Multiethnic Cultural Centre
6. On Stage at the Monument: Innovation and Avant-Garde
7. On Stage at the Monument: Eclecticism and Popular Success
8. The Long Slide Downhill
9. Renaissance: Rebirth, Centenary

9. Renaissance: Rebirth, Centenary

For almost twenty years, from the end of the 1950s to the mid-1970s, the Monument-National remained one of Montréal’s best-kept secrets. After miraculously avoiding the wrecking ball on several occasions and the real-estate speculators’ grasp, the Monument was saved in extremis by the joint action of the Société Saint-Jean Baptiste and the Québec ministère des Affaires culturelles. Officially designated as a protected cultural property in 1976 yet as a heritage building, it was in such a state of disrepair that the National Theatre School of Canada, which occasionally used the main auditorium in the mid-1960s, did so at its own risk and peril. All the same, this did not prevent the School from gradually setting up shop there, as the Société Saint-Jean Baptiste had other ideas and moved out entirely in 1976. In September 1971, Arthur Gelber, a member of the School’s Board of Governors, bought the Monument-National and reached an agreement with the School allowing it to use the Monument for the next seven years. In 1978, the School became the Monument’s official sole owner. A few years later, the School, Phyllis Lambert and the “Sauvons Montréal” group launched a massive campaign to save the building, which resulted in its total restoration and eventual full-scale re-opening.

The National Theatre School of Canada has been established in Montréal since 1960, and offers professional training in all the theatrical disciplines: acting, playwriting, directing, set and costume design, and production, in both French and English. Over the years, due to concerted promotional efforts, the National Theatre School of Canada has established itself internationally as a high-quality, one-of-a-kind training facility that combines audacity with tradition. The fact that some of its courses are given in the rich heritage setting of the Monument-National undoubtedly enhances the quality of its teaching. This and a firm determination to revitalize the Monument and tell people about its history are the two main arguments the School advanced in order to convince various levels of government to restore the building.

And that is how a hundred years, day for day, after its official opening and thanks to the outstanding work of architectural firm Blouin, Faucher, Aubertin, Brodeur and Gauthier, the Monument-National underwent a remarkable rebirth on June 24, 1993.

Today, its two large performance halls, the main one, (now called the Ludger-Duvernay Theatre after the founder of the Association Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Montréal) and the Studio Hydro-Québec (which now occupies the space previously filled by the Starland and the Eden) combine the latest in technical requirements with the qualities and warmth of a place that has witnessed so much history. Montréalers now consider this venue, to which the Balustrade theatre cabaret was added in 1999, as among the most popular and well appreciated in their city. Each year, the Monument-National welcomes around 70,000 spectators, who come to applaud, like in the old days, the great stars of their time, performing in regular or experimental works in theatre, comedy, song, music or variety.

A young and vibrant hundred-year-old, Montréal’s Monument-National is the oldest operating theatre in Québec and its stages are once again among the most prestigious and dynamic in the country.