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

3. The Early Years: the Monument’s "Open Arms"

From the moment of its inauguration in 1893, in the heart of what was in the process of becoming the Jewish district, the Monument-National established itself as a hotbed of creativity, innovation, debate and performance that made it one of the most important multiethnic community and cultural centres in America. Besides the Francophones who adopted it right away, the Jews, the Chinese, the Irish and even the members of Anglophone high society came to events there and "rubbed shoulders" with Francophone Québec artists, Jewish comedians, the Canton Opera’s Chinese stars, Italian singers and so on.

Apart from the huge auditorium on the first floor where the big celebrities of the late 19th century performed, the Monument-National contained, on the ground floor, a 200-to-300-seat burlesque theatre called the Starland, and in the basement, a wax museum with a small amusement hall, the Eden. The Monument-National also housed around 20 meeting and assembly rooms that it made available to the various non-profit associations and societies that contributed to the vitality of Montréal’s social and cultural life.