Place du Canada

Montréal

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This park immediately southeast of Sq Dorchester is best known for its monument of John A Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, who addressed the maiden session of parliament in Montréal. The two cannons around the base were captured in the Crimean War; if you look closely you’ll see the dual-headed eagle of Czar Nicholas I. The statue was decapitated by vandals in 1992 and the head vanished for two years.

The park benches are a quiet spot for a moment's rest from the downtown chaos. Food trucks ring the park in summer.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • October 18, 2017: Visitors seated on the grass around a lake in Mont Royal Park during autumn.

    Parc du Mont-Royal

    0.98 MILES

    The charming, leafy expanse of Parc du Mont-Royal is charged for a wide range of outdoor activities. The wooded slopes and grassy meadows have stunning…

  • Montreal, Quebec, Canada - 18 May 2017: Sherbrooke Street West with the Facade of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. 688955530 fine, arts, culture, exterior, classical, column, sightseeing, outdoor, view, building, construction, scene, american, famous, place, historical, heritage, architectural, chagall, totem

    Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal

    0.51 MILES

    Montréal’s Museum of Fine Arts is an accessible and beautifully updated oasis of art housed in architecturally striking buildings. A visit here is a must…

  • Notre Dame Basilica (Montreal, Canada).

    Basilique Notre-Dame

    0.74 MILES

    Montréal's famous landmark, Notre Dame Basilica, is a 19th-century Gothic Revival masterpiece with spectacular craftsmanship – a visually pleasing, if…

  • May 28, 2017: St Joseph's Oratory on Mont Royal with a woman praying on steps.

    Oratoire St-Joseph

    2.35 MILES

    The stunning Oratoire St-Joseph church built on the flanks of Mont-Royal commands grand views of the the Côte-des-Neiges area and northwest Montréal. The…

  • 1197761248

    Jardin Botanique

    4.19 MILES

    Montréal’s Jardin Botanique is the third-largest botanical garden in the world, after London’s Kew Gardens and Berlin’s Botanischer Garten.

  • Montreal, Canada. July 31, 2019 . Exterior of the basilica of Notre Dame in Quebec. Sunny day. 1219240147

    Place d'Armes

    0.72 MILES

    This open square is framed by some of the finest buildings in Old Montréal, including its oldest bank, first skyscraper and Basilique Notre-Dame. The…

  • The Old Port of Montreal on a sunny day. 613324236 Skyscraper, Photography, Vieux, City, River, Old Port, Canada, Horizontal, Crowd of People, Summer Solstice, Outdoors, Capital Cities, Monument, Crowded, Summer, Montreal, Street, Cityscape, City Street, People, Quebec, Pedestrian, Downtown District, 100326, 60595

    Old Port

    1.11 MILES

    Montréal's Old Port has morphed into a park and fun zone paralleling the mighty St Lawrence River for 2.5km and punctuated by four grand quais (quays)…

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Nearby Montréal attractions

1. Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde

0.06 MILES

The Cathedral of Mary Queen of the World is a smaller but still magnificent version of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The architects scaled it down to a…

2. Square Dorchester

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This leafy expanse in the heart of downtown was known until 1988 as Dominion Sq, a reminder of Canada’s founding in 1867. A Catholic cemetery was here…

3. Le Windsor Hotel

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The palatial Windsor was Canada’s first grand hotel (1878) and played host to all manner of international guests and celebrities, including Mark Twain,…

4. Gare Windsor

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The massive Victorian building hugging the slope west of the Marriott Château Champlain is the old Windsor Station, opened in 1889 as the headquarters of…

5. Place Ville-Marie

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Known for its rotating rooftop beacon that illuminates downtown at night, the 42-story Place Ville-Marie tower marked the beginning of Montréal’s…

6. Rue Ste-Catherine Ouest

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Lively Rue Ste-Catherine Ouest is one endless orgy of shops, restaurants, bars and cafes on the hyperactive stretch between Rue Crescent and Rue St-Urbain…

7. Illuminated Crowd

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Constructed of polyester resin, Raymond Mason’s sculpture of 65 people is one of Montréal’s most photographed pieces of public art. The work shows a…

8. Cathédrale Christ Church

0.37 MILES

Montréal’s first Anglican bishop had this cathedral built (modeled on a church in Salisbury, England) and it was completed in 1859. The interior is sober…