Square Victoria
The Square Victoria is a place in Montreal . It is located in the Ville-Marie district and forms the center of the Quartier international , the seat of numerous international organizations. The rectangular square is bounded by Rue Viger, Rue McGill and Rue Saint-Jacques . Rue Saint-Antoine divides it in half. The square is named after the British Queen Victoria .
history
In 1813 the northwestern bastion of the Montreal city wall was demolished. What remained was a large area that served as a location for markets until the beginning of the 1840s. The first houses and several churches were built around the square, which was originally called the Square des Commissaires . On October 10, 1860, the square was given its current name in honor of Queen Victoria . Twelve years later, on November 21, 1872, Governor General Lord Dufferin unveiled a statue of the Queen.
In the second half of the 19th century, Square Victoria developed into the center of an upscale residential area, but it also suffered a series of disasters: in 1869 and 1872, two major fires caused considerable property damage, and in 1886 the square was completely under water as a result of a flood. A major upheaval occurred in the 1960s when the residential and commercial buildings were demolished and several high-rise buildings were replaced. The last redesign of the square took place in 2002/03 as part of the urban development project Quartier international, which successfully persuaded several international organizations to move their headquarters to Montreal.
Several hundred activists of the Occupy movement held the square for seven weeks in October and November 2011 until the police evacuated their camp.
description
Various high-rise buildings and skyscrapers line the square. These include the Center de commerce mondial (World Trade Center) on the north side and the Tour de la Bourse , the third tallest building in the city, on the south side. In the southwest is the headquarters of the international civil aviation organization ICAO , in the east that of the Quebecor media group .
The square is lined with numerous trees and decorated with two works of art. The 1872 statue depicting Queen Victoria was created by sculptor Marshall Wood. It is over nine meters high and is made of bronze and granite. In 1985, the sculpture Taichi Single Whi by the Taiwanese artist Ju Ming, an abstract representation of an Asian martial artist. The square is accessed by the metro station Square-Victoria-OACI . The main focus is on an Art Nouveau entrance by Hector Guimard , a gift from the Paris Metro. The metro station and the surrounding buildings are connected to the Montreal underground city .
Web links
- Historical information (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Les indignés expulsés en douceur. La Presse, November 25, 2011, accessed May 12, 2012 (French).
- ^ Monument à la pure Victoria. In: L'art public à Montréal. City of Montreal, accessed May 12, 2012 (French).
- ↑ Entourage de bouche de métro parisien, 1900-1912. In: L'art du métro. metrodemontreal.com, accessed May 11, 2012 (French).
Coordinates: 45 ° 30 ′ 5.2 " N , 73 ° 33 ′ 41.4" W.