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Building stones and fossils of downtown Montreal

Palaeontologists seek out fossils in the most remote places on Earth, but you can find them right here in downtown Montreal – without even picking up a shovel. Built from a variety of local and imported stone, the city’s churches, officesÌýand apartment buildings harbour a veritable compendium of fossils and geological specimens. Our Building Stones and Fossils guide will help you track them down.

• Building Stones and Fossils (online version)
• Building Stones and Fossils (PDF)
• Building Stones and Fossils (PDF)

NEW! Free downloadable Ìý(in English). This GIS Storymap gives you a virtual tour of seven sites around ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ downtown campus that are loaded with fossils.ÌýÌýÌý

Twenty fossil sites near Montreal

Go fossil huntingÌýon the island of Montreal at one of these easy-to-reach sites.

• List of sites with descriptions (PDF)

The Gault Nature Reserve

A small site about the Gault Nature Reserve atÌýMont St-Hilaire with information about its history, geology and the animals and plants that can be found on it.

Ordovician life and fossils

Learn more about the creatures that lived in the warm seas of the Ordovician that covered Montreal almost half a billion years ago and the fossils that they left.

• Ordovician life and fossilsÌý

The Museum's Ordovician diorama provides more information about this time period.