We spent an interesting day in Ottawa, Canada's capital city. We walked from our hotel to Parliament Hill on the bank of the Rideau Canal. Security was tight as the Italian Prime Minister was visiting.
The Rideau Canal, also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario. It is 202 kilometres in length. The name Rideau, French for "curtain," is derived from the curtain-like appearance of the Rideau River's twin waterfalls where they join the Ottawa River. The canal system uses sections of major rivers, including the Rideau and the Cataraqui, as well as some lakes. The Rideau Waterway is governed by Parks Canada under the Canadian Heritage Rivers System.
The canal was
opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States. It remains
in use today primarily for pleasure boating, with most of its original
structures intact, operated by Parks Canada. The locks on the system open for
navigation in mid-May and close in mid-October. It is the oldest
continuously operated canal system in North America, and in 2007 it was
registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
History
The construction of the Rideau Canal was a
preventive military measure undertaken after a report that during the War of 1812 the United States had intended to invade the British colony of Upper Canada via the St. Lawrence River, which would have severed the
lifeline between Montreal and Kingston.[6] The British built a number of other canals (Grenville, Chute-à-Blondeau and Carillon Canals, all along the Ottawa River) as well as a number
of forts (Citadel
Hill, La Citadelle, and Fort Henry) to impede and deter any future American
invasions of Canadian territory.
The initial purpose of the Rideau Canal was
military, as it was intended to provide a secure supply and communications
route between Montreal and the British naval base in Kingston. Westward from
Montreal, travel would proceed along the Ottawa River to Bytown (now Ottawa), then
southwest via the canal to Kingston and out into Lake Ontario. The objective
was to bypass the stretch of the St. Lawrence bordering New York; a route which would have left British supply
ships vulnerable to an attack or a blockade of the St. Lawrence.
The canal also served a commercial purpose. The
Rideau Canal was easier to navigate than the St. Lawrence River because of the
series of rapids between Montreal and Kingston. As a result, the Rideau Canal
became a busy commercial artery from Montreal to the Great Lakes. However, by
1849, the rapids of the St. Lawrence had been tamed by a series of locks, and
commercial shippers were quick to switch to this more direct route. The construction
of the canal was supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers. Private contractors such as future sugar refining
entrepreneur John Redpath,Thomas McKay, Robert Drummond, Thomas
Phillips, Andrew White[ and others were responsible for much of the
construction, and the majority of the actual work was done by thousands
of Irish and French-Canadian labourers. Colonel John By decided to create
a slackwater canal system instead of constructing new channels. This was a
better approach as it required fewer workers, was more cost efficient, and
would have been easier to build.
The canal work started in 1826, and it took a total
of 6 years to complete by 1832. The final cost of its construction was £822,000. Given the unexpected cost overruns, John By was recalled
to London and questioned by a parliamentary committee
before being cleared of any wrongdoing.
Once the canal was constructed, no further military
engagements took place between Canada and the United States. Although the
Rideau Canal never had to be used as a military supply route, it played a
pivotal role in the early development of Canada. Prior to the locks being
completed on the St. Lawrence in the late 1840s, the Rideau served as the main
travel route for immigrants heading westward into Upper Canada and for heavy
goods (timber, minerals, grain) from Canada's hinterland heading east to
Montreal. Tens of thousands of British immigrants travelled the Rideau in this
period. Hundreds of barge loads of goods were shipped each year along the
Rideau, allowing Montreal to compete commercially in the 1830s and 40s with New
York (which had the Erie Canal) as a major North American port.
Recognition
In 1925 the Rideau Canal was designated a National Historic Site of Canada (plaqued in 1926 and again
in 1962). On 17 June 1998 Canada Post issued 'Rideau Canal, Summer Boating at
Jones Falls' and 'Rideau Canal, Winter Skating by Parliament' as
part of the Canals, Recreational destinations series. The stamps were designed
by Carey George and Dean Martin, based on paintings by Vincent McIndoe. The 45¢
stamps are perforated 12.5 and were printed by Ashton-Potter Canada Limited.
In 2000 the Rideau Waterway was designated a Canadian Heritage River in recognition of its outstanding historical
and recreational values.
In 2007 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognizing it as a work of
human creative genius. The Rideau Canal was recognized as the best preserved
example of a slack water canal in North America demonstrating the use of
European slackwater technology in North America on a large scale. It is the
only canal dating from the great North American canal-building era of the early
19 th century that remains operational along its original line with most of its
original structures intact. It was also recognized as an extensive, well
preserved and significant example of a canal which was used for military
purposes linked to a significant stage in human history - that of the fight to
control the north of the American continent.
A plaque was erected by the Ontario Archaeological
and Historic Sites Board at Jones Falls Lockstation commemorating Lieutenant
Colonel John By, Royal Engineer, the superintending engineer in charge of the
construction of the Rideau Canal. The plaque notes that the 123-mile long
Rideau Canal, built as a military route and incorporating 47 locks, 16 lakes,
two rivers, and a 360-foot-long (110 m), 60-foot-high (18 m) dam at
Jones Falls (Jones Falls Dam), was completed in 1832.
The 202 kilometres (126 mi) of the Rideau
Canal incorporate sections of the Rideau and Cataraqui rivers, as well as
several lakes, including the Lower, Upper and Big Rideau lakes. About 19 km
(12 mi) of the route is man-made. Communities along the waterway
include Ottawa, Manotick, Kars, Burritts Rapids,Merrickville, Smiths Falls, Rideau Ferry, Portland, Westport,Newboro, Seeleys Bay and Kingston. Communities connected by
navigable waterways to the Rideau Canal include Kemptville and
Perth.
Today, only pleasure craft make use of the Rideau
Canal. It takes approximately 3-5 days to travel one way through the Rideau
Canal system by motor boat Boat tours of the canal are
offered in Ottawa, Kingston, Merrickville, and Chaffeys Lock. There is a cruise
line that operates the ship Kawartha Voyageur. Recreational boaters can
make use of it to travel between Ottawa and Kingston. Most of the locks are
still hand-operated. There are a total of 45 locks at 23 stations along the
canal, plus two locks (locks 33 and 34) at the entrance to the Tay Canal (leading to
Perth). Furthermore, there are four blockhouses and some of the original 16
defensible lockmasters residences along the waterway. The waterway is home to
many species of birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals and fish. In 1973–74 a new
Smiths Falls Combined Lock, 29a, was built a few dozen metres to the north of
the original flight of 3 locks (locks 28–30). The original locks were bypassed
but left in place.
In normal operations the canal can handle boats up
to 27.4 m (90 ft) in length, 7.9 m (26 ft) in width, and
6.7 m (22 ft) in height with a draft of up to 1.5 m (4 ft
11 in) (boats drafting over 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in) are asked to
contact the Rideau Canal Office of Parks Canada prior to their trip). In
special circumstances a boat up to 33.5 m
(110 ft) in length by 9.1 m (30 ft) in width can be handled.
Locks
The Rideau Canal uses a lock system
that is still fully functioning. The gates that let boats travel in and out of
the locks last approximately 12–15 years. When the canal was
originally constructed, the gates would be made at the lock sites by carpenters
and blacksmiths. Today they are made in Smiths Falls, Ontario, and sometimes take up
to 2 months to build 1 set of gates. The gates used on the Rideau Canal
are made of Douglas Fir and
are mitre shaped, which close tightly due to water pressure. The average Rideau Canal
lock lift uses 1.3 million litres of water.
In winter, a section of the Rideau Canal passing
through central Ottawa becomes officially the world's largest skating
rink. The cleared length is 7.8 kilometres
(4.8 mi) and has the equivalent surface area of 90 Olympic ice
hockey rinks.
It runs from the Hartwell locks at Carleton University to the locks between
the Parliament
Buildings and the Château
Laurier,
including Dow's
Lake in between. It serves as a popular
tourist attraction and recreational area and is also the focus of the Winterlude festival in Ottawa. Beaver Tails, a fried
dough pastry, are sold along with other
snacks and beverages, in kiosks on the skateway. In January 2008, Winnipeg,Manitoba, achieved the record
of the world's longest skating rink at a length of 8.54 kilometres but with a
width of only 2 to 3 metres wide on its Assiniboine
River and Red River at The Forks. In response, the
Rideau Canal was rebranded as "the world's largest skating rink". The
Rideau Canal Skateway was added to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2005
for being the largest naturally frozen ice rink in the world. The Skateway is
open 24 hours a day. The length of the season depends on the weather, but
typically the Rideau Canal Skateway opens in January and closes in March: In 1971-1972, the skating season was
90 days long, which is the longest season so far. 2001-2002 was the shortest Rideau
Canal Skateway season, being a mere 35 days long.
Although some residents of Ottawa had been using
the canal as an impromptu skating surface for years, the official use of the
canal as a skateway and tourist attraction is a more recent innovation. In
fact, as recently as the 1970s, the city government of Ottawa considered paving over the
canal in order to make an expressway. The federal government's
ownership of the canal, however, prevented the city from pursuing this
proposal. When Doug Fullerton was appointed chair of the National Capital Commission, he proposed a recreational
corridor around the canal, including the winter skateway between Carleton University and Confederation Park. The plan was implemented on January 18, 1971, despite opposition bycity council. A small
section of ice near the National Arts Centre was cleared by NCC employees with brooms and shovels, and 50,000
people skated on the canal the first weekend. Today the skating area of
the canal is larger because of the equipment available for ice resurfacing and
24/7 maintenance crews. The skateway now has an average of one million visits
per year. City councillor and author Clive Doucet credits this transformation
of the canal with reinvigorating the communities of the Glebe, Old Ottawa East and Old Ottawa South.
Making
and maintaining the Rideau Canal Skateway
The preparation for the Skateway starts as early as
mid-October. At the end of the boating season, the water gets drained at the
Ottawa locks near Parliament by Parks Canada. When the
water cools naturally in the winter, the water level begins to lower. When
the water begins to turn to ice, the ice crystals rise to the surface as their
density is lower than that of water. This forms an ice cap that then
becomes the Rideau Canal Skateway. Once the ice is solid, preparation for
the skating season begins. This includes the installation of facilities on the
ice such as shelters, chalets, and access ramps for vehiclesNext, “beams are placed at
the locks, and the water is raised to skating level After this step, the
essentials are added such as stairs to access the ice, and hookups for both
plumbing and electricity. When the canal has built up a sufficient ice
thickness, snow is removed from the ice surface and it is flooded in order to
make the ice even more thick and smooth Samples of ice are tested
for quality and thickness. When it is safe to skate on, the Rideau Canal
Skateway is opened for the season.
The Rideau Canal Skateway is maintained by the NCC
(National Capital Commission). The ice is maintained by crews
24 hours a day, seven days a week. The snow and ice shavings are cleared off
the surface every day and the ice surface is flooded each night with a “water
dispersion machine” (weather permitting) to fill in any cracks that were caused
from the ice contracting and expanding. There are approximately 20 holes along
the side of the Skateway that serve the purpose of flooding the ice surface to
make it smoother for skaters. Two types of ice can form on the Rideau
Canal Skateway, which are “white ice” and “clear ice”. White ice has a milky
appearance with air bubbles, and is formed when snow and water mix and then
freeze. White ice can also be formed by mechanically flooding the ice
surface with water to increase the thickness of the ice cap. The other
type of ice is called “clear ice”, which has a colourless appearance and is
formed when ice crystals build up below the frozen surface in cold temperatures.
If snow accumulates on the ice it
can negatively impact the conditions for skating. Snow depresses the ice
surface and slows down the formation of ice crystals beneath the surface
Ice conditions can be classified as very good,
good, fair or poor. They are updated twice daily by the NCC. The ideal
(“very good”) conditions mean that there are “a limited number of pressure
cracks”, the ice is very hard and durable overall, the ice surface is clean and
smooth, there are a “limited number of rough areas”, and there is a “very good
gliding surface.”
Parliament Hill (French: Colline du
Parlement), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the
southern banks of the Ottawa River in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite
of buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and
contains a number of architectural elements of national symbolic importance.
Parliament Hill attracts approximately 3 million visitors each year. Originally
the site of a military base in the 18th and early 19th centuries, development
of the area into a governmental precinct began in 1859, after Queen Victoria chose Bytown as
the capital of the Province of Canada. Following
a number of extensions to the parliament and departmental buildings and a fire
in 1916 that destroyed the Centre Block, Parliament
Hill took on its present form with the completion of the Peace Tower in
1927. Since 2002, an extensive $1 billion renovation and rehabilitation project
has been underway throughout all of the precinct's buildings; work is not
expected to be complete until after 2020.
History
Parliament Hill is a limestone outcrop with a gently sloping top that was originally covered in primeval forest of beech and hemlock. For hundreds of years, the hill served as a landmark on the Ottawa River for First Nations and, later,European traders, adventurers, and industrialists, to mark their journey to the interior of the continent. After Ottawa—then called Bytown—was founded, the builders of the Rideau Canal used the hill as a location for a military base, naming it Barrack Hill. A large fortress was planned for the site, but was never built, and by the mid 19th century the hill had lost its strategic importance.
History
Parliament Hill is a limestone outcrop with a gently sloping top that was originally covered in primeval forest of beech and hemlock. For hundreds of years, the hill served as a landmark on the Ottawa River for First Nations and, later,European traders, adventurers, and industrialists, to mark their journey to the interior of the continent. After Ottawa—then called Bytown—was founded, the builders of the Rideau Canal used the hill as a location for a military base, naming it Barrack Hill. A large fortress was planned for the site, but was never built, and by the mid 19th century the hill had lost its strategic importance.
In
1858, Queen Victoria selected Bytown as the capital of the Province of Canada,
and Barrack Hill was chosen as the site for the new parliament buildings, given
its prominence over both the town and the river, as well as the fact that it
was already owned by the Crown. On
7 May, the Department of Public Works issued a call for design
proposals for the new parliament buildings to be erected on Barrack Hill, which
was answered with 298 submitted drawings. After the entries were narrowed down
to three, Governor General Sir Edmund Walker Head was approached to break the stalemate, and the winners were
announced on 29 August 1859.
The Centre Block, departmental buildings, and a
new residence for the governor general were each awarded separately, the team
of Thomas Fuller and Chilion Jones, under the pseudonym of Semper
Paratus, winning the prize for the first category with their Victorian High Gothic scheme of a formal,
symmetrical front facing a quadrangle, and a more rustic, picturesque back
facing the escarpment overlooking the Ottawa River. The team of Thomas Stent and Augustus Laver, under the pseudonym of Stat
nomen in umbra, won the prize for the second category, which included the East and West Blocks. These proposals were
selected for their sophisticated use of Gothic architecture, which was thought to remind people of parliamentary democracy's history, would contradict the republican Neoclassicism of the United States'
capital, and
would be suited to the rugged surroundings while also being
stately. $300,000 was allocated for the main building,and $120,000 for
each of the departmental buildings.
Development
into a national heart
Ground was broken on 20 December 1859, and the
first stones laid on 16 April of the following year, and Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later
King Edward VII), laid the cornerstone of the Centre Block on 1 September. The
construction of Parliament Hill became the largest project undertaken in North America to
that date. However, workers hit bedrock earlier than expected, necessitating
blasting in order to complete the foundations, which had also been altered by
the architects in order to sit 5.25 metres (17 ft) deeper than originally
planned. By early 1861, Public Works reported that $1,424,882.55 had been spent
on the venture, leading to the site being closed in September and the
unfinished structures covered in tarpaulins until 1863, when construction
resumed following a commission of enquiry two years later, the unfinished site hosted a
celebration of Queen Victoria's
birthday, further cementing the area's position as the central place for
national outpouring. The site was still incomplete when three of the British North American colonies (now the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick) entered Confederation in
1867, with Ottawa remaining the capital of the new country. Within four
years Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and the North-West Territories (now Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut) were added and, along with the
associated bureaucracy, the first three required representation be added in
Parliament. Thus, the offices of Parliament spread to buildings beyond
Parliament Hill even at that early date. The British military gave a nine-pound
naval cannon to the British army garrison stationed in Ottawa in 1854. It was
purchased by the Canadian government in 1869 and fired on Parliament Hill for
many years as the "Noonday Gun". By 1876, the structures of
Parliament Hill were finished, along with the surrounding fence and gates.
However, the grounds had yet to be properly designed; Governor General the Marquess of
Dufferin and Ava sent
chief architect Thomas Scott to New York City to meet with Calvert Vaux and view Central Park. Vaux completed a layout for the
landscape of Parliament Hill, including the present day driveways, terraces,
and main lawn, while Scott created the more informal grounds to the sides of
and behind the buildings In 1901 they were the site
of both mourning for, and celebration of, Queen Victoria, when the Queen's
death was mourned in official ceremonies in January of that year, and when, in
late September, Victoria's grandson, Prince George,
Duke of Cornwall (later
King George V), dedicated the large statue that stands on the hill in the late
queen's honour.
The Centre Block was destroyed by fire on 3 February 1916. Despite the ongoing war, the original cornerstone was re-laid by Governor General Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, on 1 September 1916; exactly fifty-six years after his brother, the future King Edward VII, had first set it. Eleven years later, the new tower was completed and dedicated as the Peace Tower, in commemoration of the Canadians who had lost their lives during the First World War. Thereafter, The Hill played host to a number of significant events in Canadian history, including the first visit of the reigning Canadian sovereign—King George VI, with his consort, Queen Elizabeth—to his parliament, on 19 May 1939. VE Day was marked with a huge celebration on 8 May 1945, the first raising of the country's new national flag took place on 15 February 1965, the centennial of Confederation was celebrated on 1 July 1967, and the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was marked on 18 October 1977. The Queen was back on Parliament Hill on 17 April 1982, to issue a royal proclamation of the enactment of the Constitution Act that year. In April 1989, a Greyhound Lines bus with 11 passengers on board travelling to New York City from Montreal was hijacked by an armed man and driven onto the lawn in front of the Centre Block. A standoff with police ensued and lasted eight hours; though three shots were fired, there were no injuries. After a second incident in September 1996 where an individual forcibly drove his car into the Centre Block doors and proceeded to jump out and attack RCMP officers who were standing guard, it was decided in the interests of national security that Parliament Hill, which up to that time had been open to limited public traffic on the lower lawn, would be restricted to government and media vehicles only.
Crowds marked the beginning of the 3rd millennium with a large ceremony on the quadrangle and the "largest single vigil" ever seen in the nation's capital took place in 2001, when 100,000 people gathered on the main lawn to honour the victims of the September 11 attacks on the United States that year. The following year, Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee was marked on 13 October.
The 88,480 square metres
(952,391 sq ft) area, maintained
by the National
Capital Commission, is
named by the Parliament of Canada Act as Parliament Hill and defined as resting between the Ottawa River on the north, the Rideau Canal on the east, Wellington
Street on the
south, and a service road (Kent Street) near the Supreme
Court on the west.]The south front of
the property is demarcated by a Victorian
High Gothic wrought iron fence, named the Wellington Wall and in the centre of which, on axis with the Peace Tower to the north, sits the formal entrance to Parliament Hill:
the Queen's Gates, forged by Ives & Co. of Montreal. At each
southern corner of the quadrangle are also smaller gates for every-day access
The main outdoor area of The Hill is the
quadrangle, formed by the arrangement of the parliament and departmental
buildings on the site, and laid out in a formal garden fashion. This expanse is the site of major celebrations,
demonstrations, and traditional shows, such as the changing of the guard, or the annual Canada Day celebrations. To the sides of the buildings, the
grounds are set in the English gardenstyle, dotted with statues, memorials, and, at the
northwest corner, a Carpenter Gothic structure called the Summer Gazebo, a 1995
reconstruction of an earlier gazebo built for the Speaker of the House of Commons and demolished in 1956. Beyond the edges of these landscaped areas, the
escarpment remains in its natural state. Though Parliament Hill remains the
heart of the parliamentary precinct, expansion beyond the bounded area
described above began in 1884, with the construction of the Langevin
Block across Wellington Street. After land to the east, across
the canal, was purchased by private interests (to build the Château Laurier hotel), growth of the parliamentary
infrastructure moved westward along Wellington, with the erection in the 1930s
of the Confederation and Justice Buildings on the north side, and then further
construction to the south. By the 1970s, the Crown began purchasing other
structures or leasing space deeper within the downtown, civic area of Ottawa.
In 1973, the Crown expropriated the entire block between Wellington and Sparks Streets with the intent of constructing a south block
for Parliament Hill. However, the government dropped this proposal and instead,
constructed more office space in Hull, Quebec, such as the Terrasses de la Chaudièreand Place du Portage.
In 1976, the Parliament Buildings and the grounds
of Parliament Hill were each designated as National Historic Sites of Canada, given their importance as the physical embodiment
of the Canadian government and as the focal point of national celebrations. The
Parliament of Canada Act renders it illegal for anyone to name any other area
or establishment within the National Capital Region as Parliament Hill, as well as
forbidding the production of merchandise with that name on it. Any violation of
this law is subject to prosecution and punishment.
Parliament buildings
The parliament buildings are three edifices
arranged around three sides of Parliament Hill's central lawn, the use and
administration of the spaces within each building being overseen by the
speakers of each chamber of the legislature. The Centre Block contains the Senate and Commons chambers, and is fronted by
the Peace Tower on the south facade, with
the Library of Parliament at the building's rear.
The East and West Blocks each contain ministers' and senators'
offices, as well as meeting rooms and other administrative spaces. Gothic
Revival has
been used as the unifying style of all three structures, though the Centre
Block is a more modern Gothic Revival, while the older East and West Blocks are of a Victorian High Gothic
This collection is one of the most important examples of the Gothic Revival
style anywhere in the world; while the manner and design of the buildings are
unquestionably Gothic, they resemble no building constructed during the Middle Ages. The forms were the same, but their arrangement
was uniquely modern. The parliament buildings also departed from the Medieval
models by integrating a variety of eras and styles of Gothic architecture,
including elements from Britain, France,
the Low Countries, and Italy, all in
three buildings. In his 1867 Hand Book to the Parliamentary and
Departmental Buildings, Canada, Joseph Bureau wrote: "The style of the
Buildings is the Gothic of the 12th and 13th Centuries, with modifications to
suit the climate of Canada. The ornamental work and the dressing round the
windows are of Ohio sandstone. The plain surface is faced with a cream-coloured
sandstone of the Potsdam formation, obtained from Nepean, a few miles from
Ottawa. The spandrils of the arches, and the spaces
between window-arches and the sills of the upper windows, are filled up with a
quaint description of stonework, composed of stones of irregular size, shape
and colour, very neatly set together." The sculptural ornament is overseen
by the Dominion Sculptor; five people have held the position since its creation
in 1936: Cléophas Soucy (1936–50), William Oosterhoff (1949–62), Eleanor Milne(1962–93), Maurice Joanisse (1993–2006) and Phil R. White (2006–present). The only structure on
Parliament Hill to have been purposefully demolished was the old Supreme Court building, which stood behind the West Block and housed
the Supreme Court between 1889 and 1945.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s there were proposals to demolish other
parliamentary precinct buildings, including the Library of Parliament and West
Block for new structures, and the East Block for parking, but none of these
plans were adopted. Instead, renovations were undertaken to the East
Block, beginning in 1966.
In 2002, an extensive $1 billion renovation project
began across the parliamentary precinct, specifically focusing on masonry
restoration, asbestos removal, vehicle screening, parking, electrical and
mechanical systems, and improved visitors' facilities. The Library of Parliament
and Peace Tower, as well as some exterior areas of masonry on the Centre Block
have so far been completed, though focus has shifted to the West Block due to
its rapidly deteriorating cladding. Before 2012, when the Centre Block is
slated to be closed for five years in order to carry out an extensive interior
restoration and upgrade, the inner courtyards of the East and West Blocks will
be enclosed and fitted with temporary chambers for the Senate and House of
Commons.
We visited the Bytown Markets during our free lunch time where we purchased warm hats and ate at the BeaverTail kiosk which serves the delicious fried dough pastry topped with a variety of sweet or savoury toppings. the pastries are hand shaped to resemble beaver tails and are a delicious "sometime" treat.
In the afternoon we visited the fascinating Museum of Civilisation.
We visited the Bytown Markets during our free lunch time where we purchased warm hats and ate at the BeaverTail kiosk which serves the delicious fried dough pastry topped with a variety of sweet or savoury toppings. the pastries are hand shaped to resemble beaver tails and are a delicious "sometime" treat.
In the afternoon we visited the fascinating Museum of Civilisation.
The Canadian Museum of History (French: Musée
canadien de l’histoire) (formerly the Canadian Museum of Civilization) is Canada's
national museum of human history.It is located in the Hull area of Gatineau, Quebec, directly across the Ottawa River from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The museum's primary purpose is
to collect, study, preserve, and present material objects that illuminate the
human history of Canada and
the cultural diversity of its people. In October 2012, it was announced that
the museum would be renamed from the Canadian Museum of Civilization to the
Canadian Museum of History, with an increased focus on Canadian history and
people. The name change became official when the Canadian Museum
of History Act received Royal Assent on December 12, 2013, with changes
to the museum's visual identity to be implemented gradually over the course of
the following months. The Museum of History's permanent galleries explore Canada's 20,000
years of human history and a program of special exhibitions expands on Canadian themes
and explore other cultures and civilizations, past and present. The museum is
also a major research institution. Its staff includes leading experts in
Canadian history, archaeology, ethnology, folk culture, and more. With
roots stretching back to 1856, the Museum is one of North America's oldest cultural institutions. It
is also home to the Canadian Children's Museum, and an IMAX Theatre with 3D capacity. It
was previously also home to the Canadian Postal Museum.
The Museum of History is managed by the Canadian
Museum of History Corporation, a federal Crown Corporation that is also responsible
for the Canadian War Museum, the Children's Museum and the Virtual Museum of New France. The Museum is a member of
the Canadian Museums Association.
Permanent Exhibitions[
The Museum has four permanent exhibition galleries the
Grand Hall, the First Peoples Hall, the Canada Hall, and Face to
Face: The Canadian Personalities Hall.
Grand
Hall
The Grand Hall on the building's first level is the
Museum's architectural centrepiece. It features a wall of windows 112 m
(367 ft) wide by 15 m (49 ft) high, framing a view of the Ottawa
River and Parliament Hill. On the opposite wall is a colour photograph of
similar size. It captures a forest scene and is believed to be the largest colour photograph in the world.
The picture provides a backdrop for a dozen
towering totem poles and
recreations of six Pacific Coast
Aboriginal house
facades connected by a boardwalk. The homes were made by First Nations artisans using large cedar
timbers imported from the Pacific
Northwest. The
grouping of totem poles, combined with others in the Grand Hall, is said to be
the largest indoor display of totem poles in the world.
The Grand Hall also houses the original plaster
pattern for the colossal Spirit of Haida Gwaii, the largest and most complex sculpture ever
created by the celebrated Haida artist Bill Reid. The pattern was used to cast
the bronze sculpture displayed outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C..
Located at the end of the Grand Hall, by the river,
is a 19 m (62 ft) diameter dome. On the dome is the 418 m2 (4,500 sq ft)abstract painting known as Morning
Star. The painting, by Alex Janvier a Dene Suline artist, and, with the
assistance of his son Dean, was completed in four months in 1993.
First
Peoples Hall
Also on the Museum's first level, this permanent
exhibition narrates the history and accomplishments of Canada's Aboriginal peoples from their original habitation
of North America to the present day. It explores the diversity of the First
Peoples, their interactions with the land, and their on-going contributions to
society. The Hall is the result of a ground breaking, intensive collaboration
that occurred between Museum curators and First Peoples representatives during
the planning stages.
Chronicling 20,000 years of history, the Hall is
separated into three larger zones:
"An Aboriginal Presence" looks at Aboriginal
cultural diversity, achievements and prehistoric settlement of North
America. Included are traditional stories about creation and other phenomena
told by Aboriginal people such as Mi'kmaq Hereditary Chief Stephen Augustine who recounts the beginning
of the world in the Creation Stories Theatre film.
"An Ancient Bond with the Land" examines
the relationship between Aboriginal Peoples and the natural world.
"Arrival of Strangers - The Last 500
Years" examines Aboriginal history from the time of European contact to
today. It examines early relations, the Métis, the
clash of Christianity and
Aboriginal beliefs, intergovernmental relations, the introduction of a wage
economy, and post-War political
and legal affirmation and civil rights. It also features a ten minute video
about sustaining Aboriginal culture, and introduces visitors to Native art.
Canada
Hall
Canada Hall occupies most of the building's third
level. Presented as a "streetscape," it invites the visitor to stroll
through hundreds of years of Canadian history beginning with the arrival
of Viking explorers: the first
non-Aboriginal people known to have set foot on what is today Canadian soil.
The journey starts on the East Coast circa 1000 AD and then
moves westward through time, following Canada’s development from coast to
coast. Along the way, visitors learn about the various waves of immigration that arrived on Canada's shores, the resources and opportunities that
drew the newcomers, the discrimination and hardships that some new Canadians
encountered, and the contributions all immigrant groups have made to their new
country.
Highlights in Canada Hall include numerous
life-size recreations, ranging from the interior of a Basque whaling ship circa 1560, to an airport
lounge circa 1970. Other exhibits include a New Francefarmhouse; a stretch of main
street, typical of an early Ontario town; an actual Ukrainian church
that once stood in Alberta and was
moved in its entirety to the museum; and a 10-metre (33 ft) long fishing
boat that once operated off the coast of British Columbia.
Face to
Face
Face to Face: The Canadian Personalities Hall
introduces the visitor to people — in the museum's words — "whose vision
and action had a significant impact on Canada and its inhabitants."
Located on the Museum's top level, Face to Face is the Museum of History's
newest permanent exhibition. When it first opened on 29 June 2007, the
exhibition profiled 27 individuals. They included writers,
artists, entrepreneurs, explorers, activists, and military and political
leaders. The line-up of personalities will change over time, but the number
profiled at any one time is expected to remain fairly constant.
Museum architect
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