Description of the attraction
Ramsey Castle, or Chateau Ramsey, is a local history museum in the Canadian city of Montreal. The castle is located in Old Montreal on Notre Dame Street directly opposite the City Hall, just a five minute walk from Champ-de-Mars Metro Station.
Ramsay Castle was built in 1705 as the residence of the current governor of Montreal, Claude de Ramsay. Throughout its history, the castle has repeatedly changed its owners. At various times, a trading company and the headquarters of the Continental Army were located here, and in 1849 the building again began to be used as the residence of the governor, although it was already British and was known as the "Government House". In 1878, Ramsay Castle became home to the University of Montreal School of Medicine.
In 1894, the building was acquired by the Montreal Society of Numismatists and Antiquaries and turned it into a local history museum and portrait gallery. The museum's impressive collection was formed mainly from private donations and today has more than 30,000 exhibits. The museum collection contains manuscripts, prints, photographs, ethnological objects, an extensive numismatic collection, paintings, prints, furniture and much more.
From 1997 to 2002 the museum was closed for renovation. In the same period, the splendid Governor's Garden was rebuilt in the spirit of a typical 18th-century New French urban garden, as a beautiful testimony to a bygone era. In 2003, Ramsey Castle received the prestigious National Award of Excellence from the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects.
Ramsay Castle was the first building to be declared a Historic Site of Quebec and is the oldest private museum in the history of the province.
