Mount Royal Cross
Illuminated steel cross crowning a mountain summit, built with schoolchildren's nickel donations.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Mount Royal Cross in Montreal opens with a colonial governor's panicked vow to the Virgin Mary during a 1643 flood, and his solitary climb up a frozen mountain in January to keep it. Two centuries later, a Sulpician priest named Pierre Dupaigne became obsessed with making that promise permanent, drawing up plans grander than what the city's coffers could cover. Montreal's schoolchildren pitched in to help finish his design, selling commemorative stamps door to door around the city.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Saint Joseph's Oratory of Mount Royal
Twin-shelled concrete dome poured in nine winter days, modeled on Florence's cathedral roof.
Place d’Armes
Historic public square framed by a founder's monument cast in Paris bronze.
Mount Royal Park
Sprawling hilltop park of winding carriage roads, forested slopes, and sweeping skyline views.
Old Saint-Sulpice Seminary
Fortified-era stone seminary with a carved-stone facade and North America's oldest working public clock.
Montreal Museum of Archaeology and History
Underground archaeological crypt over a governor's ruined mansion, a colonial fort, and the city's oldest burial ground.
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
Quarter-scale replica of Saint Peter's Basilica, built by a self-taught priest after a professional architect declared the copy impossible.