Mount Royal
Mount Royal (French: Mont Royal) (45°30′23″N 73°35′20″W / 45.50639°N 73.58889°W) is a mountain on the Island of Montreal, immediately north of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the city to which it gave its name.
The mountain is part of the Monteregian mountain chain situated between the Laurentians and the Appalachians. It gave its Latin name, Mons Regius, to the Monteregian chain.
Some tourist guidebooks, such as the famous Michelin Guide to Montreal, state that Mount Royal is an extinct volcano. In fact the mountain is not a volcano, although it may represent the roots of an ancient volcanic system; it is the remnant of an igneous intrusion that was emplaced in Cretaceous to Tertiary time. The magma intruded into the Earth's crust and crystallized into gabbro. Subsequently, the surrounding rock was eroded, leaving behind the resistant igneous rock that forms the mountain.
The mountain consists of three peaks: Colline de la Croix (or Mont Royal proper) at 223 metres (732 feet), Colline d'Outremont (or Mont Murray) at 211 metres (692 feet), and Colline de Westmount at 201 metres (659 feet) elevation above mean sea level. At this height, it might be otherwise considered a very tall hill, but it has always been called a mountain.
History
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The first European to scale the mountain was Jacques Cartier, guided there in 1535 by the people of the village of Hochelega. He named it in honour his patron, King François I of France. He wrote in his journal:
- Et au parmy d'icelles champaignes, est scituée et assise ladicte ville de Hochelaga, près et joignant une montaigne... Nous nommasmes icelle montaigne le mont Royal.
- ("And among these fields is situated the said town of Hochelaga, near to and adjoining a mountain... We named this mountain, Mount Royal.")
The name of the city of Montreal derives from mont Réal, an orthographic variant introduced either in French, or by an Italian map maker ("Mount Royal" is monte Reale in Italian). The name had been unofficially applied to the city, formerly Ville-Marie, by the 18th century.
The first cross on the mountain was placed there in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder of the city, in fulfillment of a vow he made to the Virgin Mary when praying to her to stop a disastrous flood. Today, the mountain is crowned by a 31.4-metre-high illuminated cross, installed in 1924 by the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and now owned by the city. It was converted to fibre-optic light in 1992. The new system can turn the lights red, blue, or purple, the last of which is used as a sign of mourning between the death of the Pope and the election of the next. (This operation was previously accomplished by changing all the light bulbs.)
Mount Royal Park
The mountain is the site of Mount Royal Park (officially Parc du Mont-Royal), one of Montreal's largest greenspaces. The park, most of which is wooded, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed New York's Central Park, and inaugurated in 1876.
The park contains two belvederes, the more prominent of which is the Kondiaronk Belvedere, a semicircular plaza with a chalet, overlooking downtown Montreal. Other features of the park are Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake; a short ski slope; a sculpture garden; Smith House, an interpretive centre; and a well-known monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier (currently being restored). The park hosts athletic, tourist, and cultural activities. Facing the mountain across Parc Avenue is Jeanne Mance Park (Parc Jeanne-Mance), a popular recreational area featuring tennis courts, a kiddie pool, playground, several baseball and football areas, as well as beach volleyball courts.
The park is also home to the CBC's Mount Royal transmitter facility, which comprises two large buildings (one used primarily by the CBC and one used by the private television stations) and a very short (about 100 m) candelabra tower, from which nearly all of Montreal's television and FM radio stations broadcast. Because of the close proximity of this tower to public areas of the park, in recent years significant concerns have been raised about radio-frequency radiation exposure; at several points formerly accessible to park users near the tower, radiation was found to be significantly higher than that permitted for the general public.[citation needed]
The lush forest was badly damaged by the Ice Storm of 1998, but has since largely recovered. The forest is a green jewel rising above downtown Montreal, and is known for its beautiful autumn foliage as well as extensive hiking and cross-country ski trails. Biking is restricted to the main gravel roads.
Once, a funicular railroad brought sightseers to its peak. Unfortunately, that attraction has long since vanished and a roadway named for longtime but controversial former mayor Camillien Houde -- jailed during the Second World War for his opposition to Canada's war effort -- now bisects the mountain.
Outside the park, Mount Royal's slopes also bear such Montreal landmarks as Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery (Catholic), Mount Royal Cemetery (non-denominational but primarily Protestant and Jewish); St. Joseph's Oratory, Canada's largest church; McGill University and its teaching hospitals, including the Royal Victoria and Montreal General hospitals; McGill's Molson Stadium, home to the CFL's Montreal Alouettes; the Université de Montréal; and some well-off residential neighbourhoods such as Upper Westmount and Upper Outremont.
The park, the two cemeteries, and several adjacent parks and institutions have been combined in the Arrondissement historique et naturel du Mont-Royal (Mount Royal Natural and Historical District) by the government of Quebec, in order to legally protect the rich cultural and natural heritage of this region. It is the only place in Quebec to have the combined status of an arrondissement naturel and arrondissement historique.
Mount Royal's Tam-Tams
Mount Royal hosts a unique activity in summer time, known as the "Sunday Tam-Tams", whereby hundreds, or if the weather is nice thousands, of Montrealers and visitors play tam-tams (a type of hand drum) on the east slope of the mountain, around the monument to Sir George-Étienne Cartier. The Sunday gatherings attract people of various backgrounds, and often dozens of tam-tam players perform their art at the same time, encouraging others to dance. Attendees also engage in other activities, such as the smoking of marijuana, footbag, frisbee, sunbathing, guitar-playing, Boffer wars, and reading.
The origins of this spontaneous gathering are unknown, and it is not organised by the municipal authorities. The city does restrict commercial activity, however, as vendors are not permitted to set up tables or displays, are required to remain in designated areas and must register each week. The police and first aid technicians are present to ensure the safety of those present.
The Sunday Tam-Tams continued throughout the summer of 2005 and into spring 2006, despite extensive restoration work being undertaken to the Sir George-Étienne Cartier statue.
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