‘The Passion of Christ’ procession starting from St. Francis Assisi Roman Catholic Church at Mansfield Avenue and Grace Street in Little Italy. This tells the story of the events leading up to the Crucifixion of Christ on Good Friday.
Posts Tagged ‘soldiers’
kids and soldiers
Posted: January 16, 2017 in memorials, public artTags: Bay St., bronze, Canadian, children, city hall, downtown, Italian, Italy, Ken Lum, liberate, memorial, Ortona, sculptures, seated, sitting, soldiers, statues, war, WW2
Sculptures by Ken Lum.
I was walking up Bay Street yesterday when I stopped. Out of the corner of my eye I had caught a glimpse of a sculpture that I had never seen before. It is ‘Two Children of Toronto’ by Ken Lum, 2013.
Two children, a boy and a girl, sit opposite each other, some distance between them.
What you can’t see in the above picture is that there are words in bronze mounted on the wall. The words say: “Across time and space, two children of Toronto meet”. The two kids are looking towards each but not each other.
below: Both children are wearing clothes from bygone days.
below: But the boy’s clothes are more Chinese looking.
After my walk the other day, I started researching Ken Lum. I discovered that he has another sculpture nearby, and fortuitously, it was one that I took some pictures of back in December. It is “Peace Through Valour” located at the NW corner of City Hall property. Winston Churchill is standing close by.
It commemorates the 93,000 Canadians who fought in the Italian campaign of WW2 and was dedicated in June 2016. A Canadian soldier stands vigil at each corner of the memorial. The top of the 7 foot x 7 foot square is a topographical map of Ortona, a town in Italy that was a scene of a battle at Christmas time in 1943. Ortona is on the Adriatic coast and its streets were narrow which made it difficult for Allied forces to liberate the town from Nazi Germany.
Money for the sculpture was donated by the Italian-Canadian community.
down to Coronation Park
Posted: November 16, 2016 in history, locations, memorials, natureTags: autumn, bad grammar, bathurst st., city, CN Tower, condos, construction, Coronation Park, Douglas Copeland, G20, graffiti, history, Inuksuk, Lake Ontario, memorial, park, Queens wharf lighthouse, sculpture, sign, soldiers, street art, street scene, streetcars, Tommy Hobbs, trees, TTC, urban, VIA Rail, Victory Peace monument, waterfront, WW2
This is another meandering blog post… a post about being out and about on yet another wonderful autumn day, going wherever my feet and eyes take me.
below: The first picture of my day was this intriguing wall made of old wooden doors. Bathurst Street.
below: A small elicser mural tucked away at the end of a parking lot. The man has his back to the viewer but I can’t figure out what’s behind him or what he might be doing.
below: The leaves have fallen off the vines to reveal a yellowish creature with his baseball cap askew.
below: Toronto’s tallest icon framed by a construction crane.
below: And on a similar note, a vacant lot cleared and ready for the next stage of its life.
below: No more cranes here (and not many vacant lots either for that matter). A view showing how much development there has been on the south side of the railway tracks. Fort York is between the tracks and the condo towers.
below: And what’s this? An old blue canoe beached on the tracks?
below: Standing guard over Bathurst Street, Fleet street and the Lakeshore, is one larger than life gold replica of a Royal Newfoundland Regiment and his fallen silver American foe. A sculpture by Douglas Copeland entitled “A Monument to the War of 1812”, a nod to nearby Fort York and the history of Toronto.
below: My favorite example of bad grammar still exists! Off-leash dog area at Coronation Park.
A beautiful day in the park. A slight November nip was in the air but it was sunny and the sky was a brilliant shade of blue. Coronation Park is named in honour of the coronation of King George VI who was crowned on 12 May 1937. At that time nearly 150 trees were planted here.
Apparently, an oak tree was planted to honour the king. Surrounding it, a ring of silver maples was planted. This was to symbolize the countries of the British Empire. I wish I had known that bit of trivia before I walked through the park because now I am curious if these trees are still there. Some of the trees are quite substantial.
below: Long shadows for the morning sun, low in the sky.
below: Looking back towards the city center, past the empty docks of the National Yacht Club to the residences on Stadium Road. A small group of people were making a video in the dog park.
below: This Victory Peace Monument was unveiled on 14 November 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War 2 and honour those who died in that war. It was designed by John McEwen; the bronze pieces resemble the bow of a ship.
below: On the inside of one of the bronze pieces is a map of eastern Canada and the Atlantic Ocean. Each boat on the map represents a ship or U-boat that was sunk during the war. The Canadian ships are located on the map at “their last known position”. I hadn’t realized that so many ships were lost so close to North America.
Trees were also planted to represent the four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (WW1) and its units as well as those who fought in the Fenian Raids of 1866-1870, the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, and the Boer War (1899-1902). Once upon a time, brass plaques were placed at the foot of each tree to indicate the units the tree stood for. If any plaques remain, I didn’t see them.
below: Another memorial is close by, a “Memorial to Lieut. Tommy Hobbs gallant British Canadian soldier in the Great War 1914 – 1918. Died on active service November 10, 1940. Beloved and remembered by his comrades.” Tommy Hobbs was involved in the creation of this park.
below: A little farther on I noticed another rock, one that was painted red. The bronze plaque on the rock says that 20 trees have been planted here in commemoration of the G20 Summit held in Toronto in 2010.
below: A 30 foot tall Inukshuk stands looking out over Lake Ontario. Approximately 50 tonnes of mountain rose granite was used to create the Inukshuk, which was made by Inuit artist Kellypalik Qimirpik from Cape Dorset, Nunavut.
below: Streetcars across the baseball outfield.
below: A closer look at that brown octagonal structure in the middle of the streetcar loop for the 509 and 511 cars. Apparently it’s the Queens Wharf lighthouse, one of a pair built in 1861.
The lighthouses marked the entrance to the Toronto Harbour from 1861 until the Western Channel was built in the early 1900’s. This one stood on Queen’s Wharf which used to be at the foot of Bathurst Street, adjoining Fort York. The wharf was built by the military; in 1833 it was a pier 42 feet long. The pier no longer exists; a hundred years ago it was buried under what is now Bathurst Quay.
below: A picture of an historical map (1886 or 1887) of the area showing Toronto Harbour, Fort York and the railway lands. Queen’s Wharf is the pier on the left. At that time, Front Street was the southern most street in this part of the city. All the present day development south of the train tracks is on reclaimed land.
below: Taken from google maps, what the layout of the city looks like now. As you can see, there have been many changes!
the eleventh day
Posted: November 14, 2015 in events, history, memorialsTags: cemetery, cenotaph, ceremony, city hall, freedom arches, memorials, Ontario Veterans Memorial, poppy, poppy wreath, remembrance day, soldiers, statues, tombstones, veterans
Remembrance Day
the eleventh day of the eleventh month
November 11th at 11am in 1918 (the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month) was when an armistice was signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente. Nov 11th became known Armistice Day, or in some countries such as Canada, Remembrance Day. An armistice is an agreement to stop fighting, a truce in other words. After this signing, it took several months of negotiations before the First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919. That treaty ended the war between Germany and the Allies. (The Allies of WW1 were also known as the Entente Powers while Germany and her allies were known as the Central Powers)
The poppy became a symbol of Remembrance day, and a symbol in remembrance of soldiers who died fighting in all wars, after the publication of the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ in 1915. This popular and often quoted poem was written by Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. In it he talks about the poppies that grew in the battlefields at Flanders Belgium during WW1.
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,”
below: The cenotaph (war memorial) in front of Old City Hall was unveiled on 11 Nov 1925 to commemorate those Torontonians who died in WW1. Since then, it has been expanded to include those who lost their lives in WW2 and in the Korean War. The word cenotaph comes from the Greek and translates as ’empty tomb’. This style of memorial has been used widely for commemorating someone, or some group, whose remains are interred elsewhere.
More than 6000 Torontonians lost their lives in these three conflicts. Close to three thousand men died in World War 1, a number that represents about 2% of the male population of the time. (1)
In the middle of University Avenue is a statue erected by the Toronto District of the Sons of England Benefit Society in memory of their members who died in World War 1. Founded in 1876, this society provided insurance to its members who were in need because of illness or accident.
In 1914 Canada was still part of the British Empire. As a result, when Britain found itself at war in August of that year, Canada too was involved.
below: At the base of the center lion is a small plaque that reads: “Chas Adamson, sculptor, 1923”.
below: The Sons of England building on the NW corner of Richmond St. East and Berti St., 1922
photo credit: Toronto public library website
Another memorial in this city is the Ontario Veterans Memorial. This is a 30m long granite wall in front of Queens Park dedicated to all the men and women from Ontario who served in the military. Etched into the granite are scenes depicting Canadians in military roles between the time of the Fenian Raids in 1867 to the present day.
below: Part of the granite wall. The red in the picture is a reflection of the red carpet that was laid in front of the memorial for the Remembrance Day service.
below: part of the granite wall
Transcription of the passage by Canadian author Jane Urquhart:
One by one they left behind the bright fields of innocence and stepped into the darkness of experience
Their brave departure was discrete* and humble.
Un à un, ils ont quitté les champs illuminés de l’innocence pour se plonger dans la noirceur de
i’expérience. Ils ont quitté avec courage, discrétion et humilité
Some do not return. Their absence is as big as sorrow, as wide as grief.
Certains ne reviennent jamais. Leur absence laisse un vide aussi béant que le chagrin,
aussi vaste que le deuil.
The returning walk back toward their northern homeland. Their faces are shadowed,
but they are carrying illumination in their arms.
Ceux qui reviennent marchent vers leur terre nordique. Leurs visages sont dans l’ombre
mais ils portent la lumière dans leurs bras.
(* discrete vs discreet ?)
below: Some of the wreaths laid at the Ontario Veterans Memorial on Remembrance Day.
below: Although it is not a war memorial per se, someone left a small poppy wreath by this plaque at Nathan Phillips Square. The plaque is by the arches over the pool, the freedom arches.
Transcription of the plaque: Freedom Arches. The citizens of Toronto dedicate these arches to the millions who struggled, including Canadians, to gain and defend freedom and to the tens of millions who suffered and died for the lack of it. May all that we do be worthy of them. Only in freedom can the Human Spirit soar. Against the Human drive for freedom nothing can long succeed. This plaque is mounted on a slab of the Berlin Wall.
below: The 3D Toronto sign was red on Remembrance Day.
We remember collectively as a nation, as a community. We also remember privately, as individuals, as families. Countless small memorials can be found around Toronto including in schools, in churches and other religious institutions, and in cemeteries.
below: A memorial to the 48th Highlanders, Mount Pleasant cemetery. In memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men who have served with the 48th Highlanders.
Dileas Gu Brath, their motto, is gaelic for ‘faithful forever’
below: Quiet memorials
(1) source: Patrick Cain, Global News
