Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery
The Notre-Dame-des-Neiges ("Our Lady in the Snow") cemetery is a cemetery in the Canadian city of Montreal . It is 139 hectares and is located in the municipality of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce . The cemetery is located on the western slope of Montreal's local mountain, Mont Royal . It is bounded by the campus of the Université de Montréal in the west, by the main street Chemin de Côte-des-Neiges in the south, by the Parc du Mont-Royal in the east and by the Mont-Royal cemetery in the north. With 55 kilometers of sidewalks and over a million people buried, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges is the largest cemetery in the country.
Notre-Dame-des-Neiges was opened in 1854 as the cemetery of the parish of Notre-Dame de Montréal . It was originally reserved for Catholics , which is why mostly French Canadians were buried here. The neighboring Mont-Royal cemetery was Protestant and mainly served the Anglo Canadians. Both cemeteries are now open to everyone. Due to the growing demand for cremations , nine buildings have been built since 1978 that are architecturally modeled on mausoleums and in which the urns are kept.
The cemetery has been classified as a National Historic Site since 1999 .
Graves of famous people
Numerous personalities found their final resting place in Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. Below is a selection:
- Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé (1786–1871), writer
 - Henri Bourassa (1868–1952), journalist and politician
 - Robert Bourassa (1933–1996), Québec Prime Minister
 - Dino Bravo (1948-1993), wrestler
 - George-Étienne Cartier (1814–1873), politician and father of the Confederation
 - Thérèse Casgrain (1896–1981), politician and women's rights activist
 - Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau (1840–1896), Prime Minister of Québec
 - Jean Drapeau (1916–1999), Mayor of Montreal
 - Amédée Forget (1847–1923), politician
 - Gratien Gélinas (1909–1999), actor, director and author
 - Lomer Gouin (1861–1929), Prime Minister of Québec
 - Doug Harvey (1924–1989), ice hockey player
 - Camillien Houde (1889–1958), Mayor of Montreal
 - Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine (1807–1864), Prime Minister of the Province of Canada
 - Pierre Laporte (1921–1970), journalist and politician
 - Calixa Lavallée (1842-1891), musician
 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee (1825–1868), politician and father of the Confederation
 - André Mathieu (1929–1968), pianist and composer
 - Honoré Mercier (1840–1894), Prime Minister of Québec
 - Émile Nelligan (1879–1941), poet
 - Gédéon Ouimet (1823–1905), Prime Minister of Québec
 - Jean Papineau-Couture (1916–2000), composer
 - Maurice Richard (1921–2000), ice hockey player
 - Jeanne Sauvé (1922–1993), Governor General of Canada
 - Louis-Olivier Taillon (1840–1923), Prime Minister of Québec
 - La Bolduc (1894–1941), singer and musician
 
Web links
- Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery website (French, English)
 
Individual evidence
- ↑ ArcUser Magazine: Navigating Canada's Largest Cemetery . Summer 2009 edition, p. 27
 
Coordinates: 45 ° 30 ′ 6.7 ″ N , 73 ° 36 ′ 21.6 ″ W.