Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Laurier And The Warriors

I'm finishing this walkabout on Parliament Hill today with two more statues. The first is Wilfred Laurier, the accomplished Liberal Prime Minister from 1896-1911. He stands at the southeast edge of Parliament Hill, with the East Block at his back, and the Chateau Laurier, named in his honour, before him.


This is the most recent monument on Parliament Hill, the War of 1812 Monument. It features several figures clustered together- a Metis artillery crewman, infantry soldier, Canadian militiaman, First Nations scout, Navy sailor, British Army officer, and a nurse. I still think it should have been placed elsewhere- Confederation Park or Green Island, both locations with other military monuments- but the previous federal government had been on a military history binge and had it placed here. It was sculpted by a Toronto artist, Adrienne Alison, and unveiled in November 2014. The sculpture is officially titled Triumph Through Diversity.

31 comments:

  1. An impressive collection of statues.

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  2. The advantage of living in the capitol city, you get lots of monuments to photograph!

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  3. Great monuments to honour great men. Have a wonderful day!

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  4. What a back drop - snow and blue skies. Your photographs over the last few days of these monuments is well worth seeing.

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  5. ...oh William, you still look so snowy!

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  6. The War of 1812 memorial is really impressive William, I love the way you've shown it herd, fab backdrops and details.

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  7. @Denise: indeed!

    @Halcyon: true!

    @Nancy: thanks.

    @Lauren: thank you.

    @Tom: spring is slow.

    @Grace: it was a good day for photography!

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  8. When you see that many statues, it is as if you are surrounded by history... and it is coming to life.

    Janis
    GDP

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  9. Incredible detail with those statues. Very nice.

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  10. very cool details and all. the fingernails, hands. ( :

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  11. The detail work is exquisite!

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  12. Great collection of statues, love the beautiful details, William !

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  13. Such an interesting history well shown William

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  14. I read a biography on Laurier this winter. He had some serious challenges ...one being health. The 1812 statue is complicated and busy.

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  15. @Janis: that's true.

    @SRQ: the artist did very well with it.

    @Beth: a whole lot of detail!

    @Linda: indeed!

    @Lowell: it is.

    @Karl: I do too.

    @Cloudia: thank you.

    @Red: he was a complex, fascinating leader.

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  16. That is quite a large monument.

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  17. Thanks for that tour, William!

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  18. I'm thinking they must all have cold feet standing in all that snow. :-)

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  19. A valuable history lesson can be learned by visiting these wonderful statues. Thank you for the tour, William.

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  20. Those sculptures are so cool. History to be seen
    M

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  21. @Sharon: it is!

    @Jennifer: it is a mixture.

    @RedPat: you're welcome.

    @Revrunner: they must!

    @Bill: you're welcome. I enjoyed showing it.

    @MB: thanks!

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  22. Is there any official count on how many statues there are in Ottawa?

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  23. Amazing the continued quality in all of the sculptures you have captured.

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  24. These all look particularly nice against the snow.

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  25. So much fantastic detail on these statues.
    Nice photos William...

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  26. It's am impressive monument. I can think of no similar monument to this war in GB. Sorry to say but it's a bit forgotten over here probably due to our "special relationship" with your neighbours.

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  27. Good captures of the statues. I like #6 the most.

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  28. @Norma: a lot!

    @Mari: thanks!

    @Kay: they do.

    @Pat: thanks!

    @William: it was sort of the vision of our former government, who liked to militarize things a lot.

    @Klara: thanks!

    @Orvokki: thank you.

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