Montreal’s history to be projected onto city walls, and on your smartphone

The history of Montreal will soon come to life, projected in grand moving videos on the sides of buildings and trees or via historical vignettes available on smartphones and tablets throughout Old Montreal and the Old Port.

According to the Montreal Gazette, “Three projects have been put together by non-profit historical society Montréal en Histoires to feature the history of the city as Montreal prepares to celebrate its 375th birthday in 2017. Montreal and Quebec have contributed $11 million in funding.”

Projections of living, speaking individuals from history telling the stories of their lives will be broadcast on building walls, trees, and streets throughout the area.

Multimedia creator Michel Lemieux said, “It will be as if the spirits who live in the walls of the old city will come out to share their stories. We have beautiful buildings, but it is the people who built those buildings or lived in them” that make our history.

Screenshot of a video previewing the new Montréal en histoires app. Source: Montréal en histoires.

Starting June 25, the first project will feature self-guided walking audio tours offered free by Montréal en Histoires on smartphones and tablets. Users will be able to view 12 “augmented reality” video and audio presentations at different sectors in the Old Port and Old Montreal, as well as 50 historic points of interest introducing people, places or events that shaped the city through the ages.

The app will let smartphone and tablet users see what historic sites in Montreal looked like hundreds of years ago.

A short video shows how the app will work. Although the narration in the video is in French, you will still have an idea of what it will look like even if your French is non-existant.

More about the project and the video are available in the Montreal Gazette article, Montreal’s history to be projected onto city walls, and on your smartphone.