The Globe and Mail

In a province where once-flourishing churches are now mostly empty, the announcement that the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is launching a $40-million expansion incorporating the 103-year-old Erskine and America Church on Sherbrooke Street comes as news of salvation. The church, which hasn't had a religious service since 2004, contains 20 of the finest Tiffany stained-glass windows in North America. These will be incorporated into the new museum project, according to federal Public Works Minister Michel Fortier. Ottawa is contributing $13-million to help restore the nave of the church and transform it into a concert, conference and banquet hall. The rear of the church will be torn out to create six galleries on five floors. They'll connect to the Museum of Fine Arts' other buildings via underground links. "The expansion will allow us to double our Canadian art space and after that, we will open a new design pavilion that will be one of the best in North America, thanks to the Stewart collection of decorative arts," says Nathalie Bondil, who replaced Bernard Lamarre as the MMFA director three weeks ago. The Tiffany windows, she says, will form the basis of a Tiffany exhibition that will tour to Europe.