Two Far North exhibits at Château Ramezay

The Far North under the spotlight: dual northern exhibitions at the Château Ramezay

The Château Ramezay – Historic and Museum Site of Montreal presents a duo of exhibitions with a focus on the history of the Far North. “Inuit Worlds – the collection of Saladin d’Anglure” and “Roald Amundsen – Lessons from the Arctic” reveal a myriad of unique stories from the polar territory and its inhabitants. 

Shaman (angakkuq) and his drum (qilaut) Whalebone, caribou antler, and stone, 1982, Iglulik (Nunavut);
Université Laval Objects and Specimens Collections

Inuit Worlds – the collection of Saladin d’Anglure offers a captivating perspective on a worldview where humans, animals and the invisible live in symbiosis and share the first role.

Visitors will have the chance to immerse themselves in the traditional Inuit lifestyle and spirituality by observing clothes, tools and many more objects of daily life. People of all ages are invited to learn more about practices based on sustenance, semi-nomadism and the nordic ecosystem. 

Anthropologist Bernard Saladin d’Anglure devoted his career to the Inuit* and developing a space-time model of the reproduction of life on three levels: infra-human, human and supra-human. During his many stays in the Canadian Arctic in the 1960s and 1970s, the professor emeritus and former director of the Anthropology Department at Université Laval collected objects, which he donated to the University. This collection is unique in that it serves as a testimonial to a semi-nomadic, subsistence way of life. The exhibition Inuit Worlds presents a selection of objects from this collection as well as Bernard Saladin d’Anglure’s vision of this universe, where human, animal and invisible relations take on a special meaning. 

* The spelling of Inuit follows the rules of Inuktitut in which the word is already in its plural form and means “the people.”

Roald Amundsen – Lessons from the Arctic tells the journey of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He is the first white person to cross the Northwest Passage (1903-1906) and to reach the South Pole (1910-1912). Curated by the Fram Museum in Oslo, the exhibition presents unique photographs, diary excerpts and texts recounting Amundsen’s perilous expeditions. 

This retrospective offers a focus on Amundsay’s stay among the Canadian Inuit. Their ancestral skills were decisive in the Norwegian crew’s successful arrival at the South Pole. A world-renowned exhibit, Lessons from the Arctic has already traveled to Norway, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and Ontario.   

Both exhibitions are presented until April 9, 2023.

For opening times and ticket prices, visit: www.chateauramezay.qc.ca