2008: Public Sculpture, People

There's all sorts of public sculptures in the city. One thing you will find a fair bit of is famous people. In Toronto we have a wealth of them from states men, to poets, to even kings and queens. After all Toronto has been around in one shape or another since the late 1700's. Of course way back in the early days it was known as York. I will probably have to do two posts on this since I have captured so many statues in my walks. Especially around Queen's Park Parliamentary buildings. In fact I think I will focus on that area first and deal with the statesmen that are famous in Ontario, along with one king and queen.

The majority of the statues are on the south side of the Parliament buildings. The first one you see is one of the most famous Canadians in our history. Sir John A. MacDonald. A father of Confederation as well as the first Prime Minister of Canada.


I was only able to get the one picture of him since it was a little difficult with my camera and dodging the traffic. Just in front of the main entrance though there were several statues of all sorts of statesmen and politicians.


The first three here are George Brown, Sir Oliver Mowat, and James Whitney. I have linked their bios on Wikipedia for some general information about them. As well I think that I will do some more reading on these people as well. Need to catch up on my Canadian roots I think.

The first statue of a regent in the area is Queen Victoria. The land was leased from the University of Toronto and the parliament buildings built and dedicated in 1860. The area was named for her, and now it is the title used for the area and our seat of provincial government.



Queen Victoria I believe had a wide influence and long one over the British Empire.

Now on the north side of the park is a statue of King Edward VI. The interesting bit about this statue is that it wasn't originally erected in Canada. Believe it or not it was in Delhi India. Don't ask me why, but it was moved here back in 1969. Or at least that's what I gather from the re-dedication plaque.


I also believe it's much lower then the original set up. Just the way the plaques are set up now. and the entire look.




Finally a rather famous Canadian and Trontonian. William Lyon Mackenzie. He was one of the leaders of the Upper Canada Rebellion which started at Montgomery's tavern. The rebellion didn't last long and he was forced to flee for his life at the time. It was due to this rebellion that led to changes in Canada's governance. Some of the plaques I have photographed have part of the story, but there is so much more to it then can be expressed in a few lines of bronze or stone.



Well that's it for today, see you next time. And remember, sometimes when you walk, you walk in history.

Paladin Phil