'Canada's largest natural science museum complex' welcomes hundreds of thousands

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The projector is shown at the new planetarium in Montreal, Wednesday, February 20, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - While the sound of cheering baseball fans has been long gone from Montreal's Olympic Stadium, there is still plenty of buzz around the massive park that surrounds the facility and its landmark tower.

The excitement that followed the crack of baseball bats has been replaced by the oohs and aahs of visitors to a grouping of installations that make up what's called "Space For Life."

It's described as "the largest natural science museum complex in Canada" and its various institutions welcomed 1.5 million visitors in 2012.

Executive director Charles-Mathieu Brunelle says the installations, which will soon include a new planetarium, provide a "very unique way of looking at nature and life."

"What's very, very special is you also have something that is trying to strengthen the bond that we have between humankind and nature," Brunelle said in an interview.

Remember the old Olympic Velodrome? It's now the Biodome, which features five eco-systems that include a tropical rainforest and even subarctic islands — complete with penguins.

It houses more than 4,500 animals, including 250 different species, as well as 500 plant species — all under one roof.

More than 787,000 visitors experienced its exotic climates last year, with close to 35 per cent coming from outside Quebec.

Just across the street there's the Botanical Garden, which continues to attract hundreds of thousands to its greenhouses year-round. Until April 28, it's hosting an exhibit called "Butterflies Go Free."

One of the garden's tropical greenhouses, with this year's monarch butterfly theme, has become home to 75 different species.

"We'll be releasing about 100 each day," said butterfly guide Kaja Verret-Holding.

"They're from all over the world, from different farms that raise butterflies (and) every day a bunch of them will emerge from their chrysalis and then will be released in the greenhouse."

About 20,000 butterflies and moths will be set free throughout the event.

Verret-Holding said many of the brilliantly coloured butterflies come from far-off places: Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Costa Rica.

More than 1.7 million visitors have taken in the butterfly experience since it was first presented in 1998.

After admiring the variety of butterflies and moths, visitors can check out the nearby Insectarium where they can get real close to creepy-crawlies like beetles and furry spiders.

Visitors who may have their sights set above the planet — and beyond — are not being forgotten.

They soon will get a chance to get starry-eyed with a visit to the latest addition under the "Space For Life" umbrella — the new Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, near the base of the Olympic Tower.

The $48-million planetarium, with its two huge shiny cones pointing skyward, will officially open its doors on April 6.

The new facility is about four times larger than the old planetarium, which occupied 2,500 square metres in a downtown square and closed in late 2011.

More than six million star-struck visitors passed through its doors over 30 years.

Astronomer Pierre Chastenay says describing the new 10,000-square-metre planetarium as "state of the art" is an understatement.

"This is the best planetarium in the world — until the next one opens," he said in an interview as workers continued to put the finishing touches on the facility.

What's particular about the new planetarium is the fact it has two very different theatres.

"One is the astronomical theatre where you look at the starry sky," Chastenay said. "It's a beautiful experience with a projector that creates more stars than you can see with the naked eye."

He said visitors who bring along a pair of binoculars will see more stars.

The state-of-the-art computers in the domed theatre will also take visitors on a virtual trip into space.

"For instance, if we look at Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky, we can take off from Earth, travel to these two planets, fly around them, land on their satellites and go through Saturn's rings, if we want to," Chastenay said.

The second theatre, where visitors (shoeless, of course) sit on beanbags, will offer a 20-minute multimedia voyage.

Brunelle explained that it starts out with two eyes in the dark that blink and become fireflies and then travel to the planets.

"They take you into an experience where you really feel that you are taking off, you really feel like you are almost levitating because of the technology," he added.

The virtual trip flies to the end of the universe and then returns to Earth where space travellers will "discover life on our own planet."

The planetarium also has a huge collection of more than 200 samples of meteorites that have been discovered all over the planet.

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General admission prices to the "Space for Life" facilities vary depending on the season and tickets can also be purchased online.

A visit to either the Biodome or the planetarium will cost $18.75 for adults, with reduced rates for students and children under 17. Visitors can get into both the Insectarium and Botanical Garden for a combined $18.75.

For each of the three options (Biodome, planetarium and Insectarium-Botanical Garden), there's also a rate of $52.50 for a family with two adults and up to three children. Children under five are admitted free.

Combined packages, at reduced rates, are also offered.

Admission for Quebec residents in all categories is a few dollars cheaper.

All four sites are easily accessible by taking Montreal's green subway line to either the Pie-IX or Viau stations. They are also wheelchair accessible.

On the web: http://espacepourlavie.ca/en