Macdonald Monument

Macdonald Monument

Coordinates	45°30′23″N 73°35′20″W
Location	Place du Canada
Designer	George E. Wade
Material	bronze, stone
Opening date	June 6, 1895
Dedicated to	John A. Macdonald

The Macdonald Monument is a monument of sculptor George Edward Wade located at Place du Canada in Montreal.

History

This monument in memory of John A. Macdonald was unveiled by Earl of Aberdeen, Governor General of Canada on June 6, 1895.

At the top, an allegorical female figure carrying a horn of plenty represents Canada. Below, the children symbolize the seven provinces that made up Canada at the time. The bronze is housed under a stone baldachin replete with copper bas reliefs of industrial and agricultural trades practised in the Dominion he first commanded. While the plaza is arranged along the skewed cardinality characteristic of Montreal, Macdonald looks west-northwest, under a canopy created by trades, at the vast expanse awaiting the command coming from Montreal. Also, he faces off against the tribute to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, across the street in what is now Dorchester Square. The whole monument constructed in the Dominion Square is the work of English sculptor George Edward Wade (1853-1933).

The monument was erected by the citizens of Montreal. The two cannons flanking the monument were used at Sevastopol in the Crimean War and were a gift from Queen Victoria to the City of Montreal in 1892, to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the City.

Gallery

• 

  Unveiling of the monument on June 6, 1895

• 

  Place du Canada from René Lévesque Boulevard; Windsor Station in behind

• 

  A cannon flanking the monument

• 

  Canada Day, 2013

References

• Inauguration of Montréal's Monument to the late Right Hon. Sir John Macdonald, G.C.B., by His Excellency the Earl of Aberdeen, Governor-General of Canada, June 6th, 1895