Reading time: 3 min.
Escales découvertes on Mount Royal
Located on the Mount Royal Heritage Site, the Cemetery has the privilege of hosting a portion of the Escales découvertes, an initiative of the City of Montréal in celebration of its 375th anniversary.
The project aims to help visitors discover the richness of the Heritage Site's landscape. Composed mainly of 3D maps, stops and clues, the Escales découvertes offer a playful and intuitive way to experience the site. They provide an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the mountain, particularly in terms of its importance in the urban landscape of Montréal.
Discovering the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges's cultural landscape
On the Cemetery site, there is a 3D map (near the Decelles entrance), 7 clues and 5 stops, all made of granite and bronze, noble and perennial materials that blend harmoniously into the natural landscape.
The 3D map, placed on a cylindrical base, informs and orients by means of a model reproducing the relief of the place, thus facilitating the understanding of the space.
The clues are presented in the form of truncated and inclined cones, some of which are crossed by a "vein" that directs the eye towards an element of the landscape. They allow you to sit or to climb them to gain a new point of view on the surroundings. The clues are accompanied by short literary messages referring to the surrounding landscape.
The stops invite you to contemplate the interior views of the mountain. They are adorned with short poems composed especially for each location. On the Cemetery site, you can find the words of Pierre Nepveu, Erin Moure, Paul Bélanger, Daniel Canty and Chantal Neveu.
"The five stops in the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery are located near the dedicated interior views. [They] offer experiences of the different landscape units of the cemetery: plain, plateau rise, the plateau and the plateau prominence.
Each stop is defined as a consecrated place within which a renewed experience of the Heritage Site is proposed, and particularly the visual horizon offered from the stop on the interior landscapes of the cemetery. Simple geometric forms are used to refer to the emblematic nature of geometry in religious architecture (circle, ellipse). A granite border on the ground defines the enclosure and marks the threshold. The border splits to reveal a granite bench."
You can discover the stops and clues that line the territory of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges by consulting the Cemetery map.
A project that has won recognition
The Escales découvertes have won several architecture and design awards:
2019 National Merit, Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Award of Excellence
2018 Winner, Urban Fragments category, National Urban Design Awards, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
2018 Award of Excellence, Placemaking & Identity category, Society for Expriential Graphic Design.
Design: URBAN-SOLAND / JULIE MARGOT / VLAN / LUU NGUYEN / LAFONTAINE SOUCY
An initiative of the City of Montreal, this project was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of Quebec.
