Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal

It was 6.10pm by the time we arrived at Notre Dame Basilica on 5 September. At first glance of its architecture, its design instinctively reminded me of the Notre Dame of Paris (Read here). This is not surprising because Montreal is ranked as the 4th largest French speaking city in the world. Top in the list is none other than Paris. But Kinshasa of Congo (2nd) and Abijan of Ivory Coast in third did give me a surprise.

Any first timer to Notre Dame Basilica would be told of one major event that was held here - the wedding of Celine Dion to her manager, Rene Angelil in 17 December 1994. She was 26 and Rene, by then was 52. This venue was again used on 22 January 2016, this time for the funeral memorial service of Rene Angelil who died of throat cancer on 14 January, aged 73.

The frontage of the Bank of Montreal is almost
a replica of the Pantheon in Paris.
A very unconventional design near 
Notre Dame Basilica

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