Place Jacques-Cartier

This guide to Place Jacques-Cartier in Montreal centers on the limestone column topped by a statue of English admiral Horatio Nelson, erected in 1809 by British and French Montrealers alike even though Nelson never set foot in the city. It traces how that unity curdled, as French nationalists came to read the statue as a British boast over a conquered city, and how a rival monument to naval officer Vauquelin later rose nearby to answer it. Listen for why Nelson was built facing the mountain instead of the river that made him famous.