The Esplanade is Medicine Hat's main cultural building — a 2005 structure on First Street that brings together the city's museum, archives, art gallery, and a 700-seat theatre under one curving roof. The architecture itself is worth a look: a glass-and-steel atrium with a sweeping public foyer that gives onto the bluff above the river.
The museum's permanent collection tells the city's story — gas, ceramics, ranching, the wartime German prisoner-of-war camp at Medicine Hat — with good local photographs and well-curated objects. The art gallery rotates exhibitions, often featuring Alberta artists and ceramicists (an inevitable theme in this city). Check what is on before visiting; the venue runs everything from chamber concerts to touring stand-up comedians, and a show at the theatre is the easiest way to make an evening of it.