Statues and Monuments
Most of the statues on Parliament Hill are arranged behind the three parliamentary buildings, with one outside of the main fence.
| Figure | Portrait | Statue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir George-Étienne Cartier | This was the first statue put up on Parliament Hill, to the immediate west of the Centre Block, at the instigation of Sir John A. Macdonald. From amongst proposals from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy, Louis-Philippe Hébert was chosen to form the monument, which was set up in the 1880s. | ||
| Sir John A. Macdonald | Louis-Philippe Hébert was selected out of 44 submissions from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe, to sculpt the statue of Canada's first prime minister. In the 1880s it was unveiled at the south east corner of the Centre Block. | ||
| Queen Victoria | Located at the north-west corner between the West and Centre Blocks, the statue of the country's first monarch was sculpted by Louis-Philippe Hébert in 1900, and dedicated by Prince George, Duke of Cornwall and York, in 1901. | ||
| Alexander Mackenzie | Placed directly to the north of the statue of George-Étienne Cartier, Louis-Philippe Hébert was commissioned to sculpt this figure at the same time as he was awarded the project of the monument to Queen Victoria. The statue was unveiled in 1901. | ||
| Sir Galahad | This is the only statue on Parliament Hill that is not of a monarch or politician, or within the site's fences. It was put up in 1905, at the initiative of the future prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, in order to honour the bravery of his friend Henry Albert Harper. The sculpture was by Ernest Wise Keyser | ||
| George Brown | This statue was created by George William Hill, and erected in 1913, just north of the monument to Alexander Mackenzie. | ||
| D'Arcy McGee | The competition for this sculpture took place simultaneously with that for the rendition of George Brown, and was won also by George William Hill. It was unveiled in 1913, at its location northwest of the Library of Parliament. | ||
| Robert Baldwin and Sir Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine |
This dual statue sits at the northeast corner of the parliamentary precinct, was designed by Walter Seymour Allward, and put up in 1914. | ||
| Sir Wilfrid Laurier | Out of 40 entries received from around the world, that of Joseph-Émile Brunet was selected and realised at the south east corner of the site in 1922. | ||
| Sir Robert Borden | Frances Loring cast this likeness for the 1957 opening of parliament that was presided over by Queen Elizabeth II; it stands at the south west corner of Parliament Hill. | ||
| William Lyon Mackenzie King | This statue was commissioned for the Canadian Centennial in 1967, designed by Raoul Hunter, and erected at the northwest corner of the East Block. | ||
| John Diefenbaker | This statue was initiated by an Act of Parliament, and Leo Mol was chosen from 21 submissions to sculpt the piece that dedicated in 1985, and stands immediately north of the West Block. | ||
| Lester B. Pearson | In 1989, Danek Mozdzenski was commissioned to form this monument that rests immediately north of the West Block. | ||
| Queen Elizabeth II | Found in the opposite corner of the site from the statue of her great-great-grandmother, the monument was sculpted by Jack Harman and unveiled in 1992, in the presence of the Queen, as part of the 125th anniversary of Confederation celebrations. | ||
| The Famous Five | This monument was donated in 2000 to the Crown by the Famous 5 Foundation and is a collection of five individual statues, by Barbara Paterson, of each of The Famous Five—Emily Murphy, Irene Parlby, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Henrietta Edwards— as well as one empty chair. It is located at the east edge of the precinct, to the south of the statue of Queen Elizabeth II. |
A number of other monuments are distributed across the hill, marking historical moments or acting as memorials for larger groups of people.
| Monument | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Centennial Flame | Lester B. Pearson dedicated this fountain and flame on 1 January 1967, to mark the beginning of the Canadian Centennial. | |
| Canadian Police Memorium | This memorial was designed and constructed to honour Canadian police officers killed in the line of duty since 1879. Dedicated on 22 March 1994, the memorial has since been expanded to include the names of fallen officers from all law enforcement agencies, including the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans, and the Ministry of Conservation. | |
| Victoria Tower Bell | Unveiled in 2000, the bell is the original from the Victoria Tower, and is canted to recall the way in which it was found after it fell from its perch in the fire of 1916. |
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Famous quotes containing the words statues and, statues and/or monuments:
“But have you wine and music still,
And statues and a bright-eyed love,
And foolish thoughts of good and ill,
And prayers to them who sit above?”
—James Elroy Flecker (1884–1919)
“And are not men than they more blind,
Who having eyes yet never find
The bliss in which they move:
Like statues dead
They up and down are carried,
Yet neither see nor love.”
—Thomas Traherne (1636–1674)
“If the Revolution has the right to destroy bridges and art monuments whenever necessary, it will stop still less from laying its hand on any tendency in art which, no matter how great its achievement in form, threatens to disintegrate the revolutionary environment or to arouse the internal forces of the Revolution, that is, the proletariat, the peasantry and the intelligentsia, to a hostile opposition to one another. Our standard is, clearly, political, imperative and intolerant.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)