History
In the mid-1950s, the plan to build Place des Arts - an initiative of then-Mayor Jean Drapeau - arose from the desire to revitalize the downtown core. Major complexes of this type, including New York's Lincoln Centre, were in vogue at the time, and the goal was to create a large-scale facility devoted to the performing arts and associated with Montreal's francophone community. Inaugurated in 1963, the Grande Salle (later renamed Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier) was an immediate success. The greatest names in music, dance, theatre, and variety have performed there.
With the advent of Expo 67, a second building housing Théâtre Maisonneuve and Théatre Port-Royal (renamed Théâtre Jean-Duceppe) was inaugurated. Beginning in 1978, the Théâtre du Café de la Place (renamed Studio-Théâtre) served as a dinner theatre and then as a venue for French-language singers. A fifth hall, aptly named the Cinquième Salle, opened in 1992.
Place des Arts also hosts many cultural events including the Francofolies and Montreal's International Jazz Festival on its esplanade. The Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Opéra de Montréal, and the Grands Ballets Canadiens all use the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier for their regular season.
Linked by underground passages on a north-south axis to the Palais des Congrès (Montreal's convention centre), Place des Arts and the Musée d'art contemporain (the museum of contemporary art) form the largest multi-purpose cultural facility in Canada.

Place des Arts
14 cm x 9 cm
© Dinu Bumbaru, © Héritage Montréal

Place des Arts
14.8 cm x 10.5 cm
© Dinu Bumbaru, © Héritage Montréal

Place des Arts' inauguration with Zarin Mehta, Jean Drapeau and Wilfrid Pelletier
20.1 cm x 19 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Place des Arts area before construction
24.5 cm x 20.5 cm

Church before the construction of Place des Arts
1960
23.8 cm x 19.2 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Place des Arts esplanade, without the Musée d'art comtemporain de Montréal
25.5 cm x 20.2 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in construction, Place des Arts
25.6 cm x 20.2 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Sainte-Catherine Street West before the construction of Place des Arts
25.5 cm x 20.2 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Residential street before the building of Place des Arts
24 cm x 18.8 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Buildings on the corner of Ontario and Jeanne-Mance streets before their destruction for Place des Arts
24 cm x 19.2 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Residential buildings in 1960 before their destruction for Place des Arts
24.1 cm x 18.9 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Place des Arts esplanade
3.4 cm x 2.3 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Place des Arts' esplanade and the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
3.4 cm x 2.3 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Place des Arts' esplanade with UQAM building in background
3.4 cm x 2.3 cm
© Fonds d’archives de la Société de la Place des Arts de Montréal, © Héritage Montréal

Event on Place des Arts' esplanade
3.4 cm x 2.3 cm

Complexe Desjardins in construction, view of Place des Arts
Studio O. Allard
25.4 cm x 20.5 cm
© Place Desjardins, © Héritage Montréal

View of downtown, Place des Arts, and building site for Complexe Desjardins
1973
25.2 cm x 20.6 cm
© Place Desjardins, © Héritage Montréal

Metro entrance to Place-des-Arts metro, on the corner of de Maisonneuve and Jeanne-Mance (before the construction of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal)
3.4 cm x 2.3 cm
© Fonds de Commission de transport de Montréal, Archives de la STM (S10/10.1.14,3), © Héritage Montréal

Old entrance to Place-des-Arts metro station
© Fonds de Commission de transport de Montréal, Archives de la STM (4-966-056), © Héritage Montréal