Redpath Museum

Redpath Museum

The Redpath Museum is situated on the campus of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Built in 1882, it was a gift from sugar industry tycoon Peter Redpath to the eminent naturalist Sir William Dawson. It was designed to house and display Dawson’s valuable collection of specimens and was named in his honor.

As one of Canada’s oldest museums, the Redpath Museum features architecture in the Greek Revival style of the mid-19th century. The museum focuses on the study of natural history, covering geology, entomology, paleontology, and ethnology, with a collection of up to three million specimens. Its geological collection includes approximately 20,000 specimens and over 400 rock samples from around the world. The ethnology collection, comprising both anthropology and archaeology, contains more than 17,000 items from Africa, Ancient Egypt, Oceania, Paleolithic Europe, and South America. The paleontology collection includes 10,000 vertebrate and 14,000 invertebrate specimens, along with a large number of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, and mollusk specimens. Among the highlights is a Japanese spider crab measuring two meters in length.

Redpath Museum

Why Go: One of Canada’s oldest natural history museums

Continent: North America [North America]

Country/Region: Canada [Canada]

Province/State: Quebec [Québec]

City: Montreal [Montreal]