Nelson's Column (Montreal)
The Nelsonsäule ( French Colonne Nelson ) is a monument in Montreal . It stands on Place Jacques-Cartier and was built in 1809 in memory of the British Admiral Horatio Nelson , over three decades in front of the much better known Nelson's Column in London .
News of the British victory in the Battle of Trafalgar and the simultaneous death of Nelson was announced in Montreal during a dance ball attended by many business people. They immediately decided to erect a memorial in honor of the admiral and organized a collection campaign to finance the building. The London architect Robert Mitchell was commissioned to design the monument, and he was inspired by the Trajan Column in Rome . The Nelson statue and ornaments were made at Coade and Sealy's in Lambeth . The column comes from the Montreal bricklayer Gilmore, who worked the local limestone according to the architect's instructions.
After the statue and ornaments were shipped to Montreal, the monument was completed in 1809. The Nelson's Column was very controversial among the French-Canadian residents of the city, as the conquest of New France was only half a century ago and Nelson had defeated a French fleet. In their eyes, the column was a symbol of power in the expanding British Empire . In 1900 the ornaments made of Coade stone were replaced by those made of natural stone. In 1999 a copy of the statue was placed on the column, and the original has since been exhibited in the Center d'histoire de Montréal , where it is protected from the weather.
The column is 16.5 meters high and around 1.5 meters in diameter, the height of the statue is 2.6 meters. The Nelson's Column is one of the oldest examples of neoclassical architecture in Canada and the oldest monument in the country.
Web links
- Description of the monument (French)
Coordinates: 45 ° 30 ′ 29.5 " N , 73 ° 33 ′ 13.8" W.