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November 5, 2004
Jewish museum for Montreal
City approves $30 million multi-purpose project that will open
in 2007.
JANICE ARNOLD SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Montreal
The Montreal executive committee has given the go-ahead for a $30
million Jewish museum/office complex in the downtown core, which
its developers say will be unique in Canada.
The city will sell a 20,000-square-foot lot at the southeast corner
of De Maisonneuve and St. Laurent boulevards to the Montreal Jewish
Museum (MJM) committee and has approved the architectural plans.
The MJM committee is co-chaired by Joshua Ronn, a retired textile
merchant who conceived the idea of the museum, and Herschel Segal,
founder and chair of the Le Chateau retail clothing chain, now semi-retired
and with time to devote to the project.
Construction must begin within one year, according to the deal,
and Segal believes the MJM will open in two and a half years. Despite
the name, the museum is to be national in scope, reflecting the
Jewish experience in Canada, Segal said.
Ronn, who immigrated to Montreal after the Second World War, wanted
to pay homage to the country where he and so many other Jews could
prosper.
Adding a commercial component to the project appeared to be the
only way to make it economically feasible, Segal said. Revenue from
the rental of space above will help finance the museum, which will
be a nonprofit institution.
The complex, whose chief architect is Harry Parnass, consists of
a 50,000-square-foot museum on three floors - two below street level
and the third above a main-floor concourse.
Above that will be eight to 10 storeys of office and/or residential
space. Other than restaurants serving "Jewish food from around
the world" and gift and book shops connected to the museum,
there will be no retail business, Segal said.
Segal said the locale is ideal. Not only is it in the heart of what
was a Jewish immigrant district, but today it is at the crossroads
of Old Montreal, Place des Arts and the trendy section of St. Laurent,
north of Sherbrooke Street. A constant flow of traffic is guaranteed
because the St. Laurent metro station will be incorporated into
the site. It is also near the outdoor venues of the jazz, comedy
and other summer festivals.
The immediate neighborhood is rundown, but that has worked in the
project's favor. The museum committee, which has been in discussion
with the city for more than a year, persuaded Mayor Gerald Tremblay
that the project fits in with his administration's revitalization
plans for the area. Except for the metro station, that corner has
been vacant for 30 years.
The committee had hoped to get the city to donate the land, but
in the end, it agreed to sell it for the municipal evaluation, which
Segal thinks is a good price.
The building will be ultra-modern, plans show. An enclosed "urban
plaza," more than 10 metres high, is to serve as a public meeting
place. Open "pneumatic pods" transport visitors to the
various levels. A glassed-in circular staircase leads from the plaza
down to the lower floors.
The exterior of the front of the building is covered with tiny diode
electronic bulbs, which at night project images and messages. Parnass
said he was inspired by the biblical injunction: "Ye shall
be a light unto the nations."
Former Quebec cabinet minister and community leader Victor Goldbloom
is president of the museum committee. Among the members of its provisional
board are McGill University Prof. Morton Weinfeld, an expert on
Canadian Jewry; Superior Court Judge Herbert Marx; past Federation
CJA president Stanley Plotnick; Victor Rabinovitch, director of
the Museum of Civilization; and former McGill University principal
Bernard Shapiro.
Several leading real estate developers are also involved, including
Sam Aberman, Eugene Riesman, Richard Dubrovsky, Jonathan Wener and
Harvey Wolfe. But eventually, the MJM will have to do some fund-raising,
Segal said.
He said the MJM will be for exhibition only; it will not have archival
or storage facilities. About two-thirds of the space is to be devoted
to its permanent collection, and the other third to temporary displays,
not necessarily of Canadian content, but reflecting the diversity
of Jewish culture and history, Segal said.
"The MJM will become this city's home to travelling exhibits,
films and multimedia presentations created by the worldwide network
of Jewish museums that have up till now bypassed Quebec for lack
of an appropriate milieu," he said.
"The permanent exhibition is going to be interesting, using
the latest technology," he said. "It is not going to be
just a collection of relics. It can't be dull." He hopes, for
example, that the Montreal Jewish Film Festival, of which he is
chair, will become a year-round event.
"The MJM will show the contributions Jews have made to Canadian
society. It will be the first of its kind in Canada, and a multifunctional
institution providing our community with culture, education and
entertainment."
He hopes it will be a place where all Jews feel at home. "This
will be our Judenplatz," he said.
The overarching goal is to reach the broadest possible audience,
and the MJM will make it its mission to reach out to non-Jews from
all ethnic groups.
"We are all immigrants and we have an uplifting story to tell
about struggle, adaptation and success," Segal said.
He admitted he has not given much thought to security. "Naturally,
steps will have to be taken. But we can't give in to fear-mongering.
We have to live."
Janice Arnold is with the Canadian Jewish News.
This article is reprinted with permission.
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