I Visited Montreal's New Museum Of Illusions & These Are The Coolest Parts (PHOTOS)

Montreal's newest museum isn't your mother's favourite historical archive. It's geared towards selfie-takers and fun-havers, those old and young who want hands-on experiences that will make them gasp in awe and leave them with Instagrammable photos to share with their audience. The Montreal Museum of Illusions is the 44th franchise of a Croatian line of madcap brain-addling museums that hope to inspire your creativity and help you learn a thing or two about cognitive science while you're at it.

The Museum costs $26 for adult tickets, $20 for children and $24 for seniors. It's part of the largest private chain of museums in the world, with locations in Athens, Dubai, Lyon, Shanghai and New York.

Museum of Illusions staff member Andrea Pinjušić poses in a kaleidoscope tunnel.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

The museum's primary exhibit is a dizzying room called the Vortex, where a spiralling tunnel of galaxy-coloured fabric convinces your brain that, despite standing on a fixed, flat platform, you're about to fall over at any second. The result is a feeling of odd near-drunkenness that's difficult to describe without experiencing it: and that's exactly what the museum wants you to think.

Andrea Pinjušić demonstrates an illusion using mirrors to flip an arrow's direction.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

That's not to say you can't get great pictures in the Vortex, quite the opposite, and that's also by design. Although most of the exhibits are tailored to confuse your brain and many work best in person, several illusions come across better in images, since cameras can't top the depth perception of the human eye, according to Croatian Museum of Illusions staff member Andrea Pinjušić. In other words, photos are actively encouraged, and several picture-perfect rooms, like a mirrored infinity space with seemingly endless capacity, will even be decorated for special occasions like Halloween.

Narcity Quebec's Maïlys Kerhoas stands in the vortex.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

At the Museum of Illusions, where detailed signs (in French, of course) explain the workings behind each piece, you're encouraged to touch and explore the displays at your leisure. Even the optical illusions that line the walls will come with dangling rulers, so you can prove for yourself that those two lines are actually the same length, despite the confusing visual information your brain is balking at.

Pinjušić poses in the colour room, refracting coloured lights into their base shades.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

The Museum of Illusions also has a gift shop you can enter without going through the museum itself, but honestly, that would be missing out on the childlike fun of seeing the world in front of you stop making sense for a moment. You can buy puzzles, games and brain-teasers at the store, and Pinjušić promises that jumbo games will be scattered around the museum for even more interactivity.

An oversized needle goes through two buttons in a confusing 3d configuration.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

It's part of the museum's dedication to remaining an educational space despite its fun-loving, social-media-friendly spirit. The two basic parts of a successful illusion, according to Pinjušić, are "something you know really well," like the properties of a standard three-dimensional room, and "something that you don't expect," like a slanted floor and perfectly designed proportions that convince a camera that you're much, much shorter or taller than you actually are. Each illusion in the museum can be boiled down to these parts: something your brain understands so well it's automatic, and an element of surprise that catches you mid-thought and turns your perception upside-down.

Two people pose in the upside-down room.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

The space I just described is called an Ames room, named after its inventor Adelbert Ames, Jr., who developed the concept in the mid-1940s. The space is noticeably wonky to anyone standing in it, but when viewed from a specific angle — which, at the museum, is the location of a camera that shows you a live feed of the illusion — it looks like a perfectly square, level room. The weird proportions make you and your friends seem frighteningly large or oddly small, and you have to admit that it makes for excellent photography.

The author stands in a tilted room in which it's impossible to look like you're standing up straight.Willa Holt | MTL Blog

Education is still present in this space, lest we forget that it is indeed a museum and not just an all-ages playground, although there's some of that, too. The Museum of Illusion's Canadian owner and curator, Michaela Radman, says that "each exhibit offers a truly unique experience that challenges your perception and tricks the mind.

"The installations are based on science, mathematics, psychology and art allowing visitors to learn about vision and the human brain, but in a fun and interactive way!”

The Montreal Museum of Illusions is located on rue Saint-Antoine, steps from Place-d'Armes metro station in Old Montreal.

Museum of Illusions Montreal

The camera peers into a seemingly endless space made of mirrors and lights.

Willa Holt | MTL Blog

Where: 54, rue Saint-Antoine O., Montreal, QC

When:

• Opens on June 10, 2023
• Seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 21 p.m.

Price: $26 for adults, $20 for children, $24 for seniors

Why You Should Go: To experience sensory strangeness and perplexing perspectives in a fun, all-ages, semi-educational space.

Visit the Montreal Museum of Illusions website here