Yesterday evening I was passing through Place d’Armes and stopped to take a few night shots of the square and Notre-Dame Basilica and in the process discovered Mundus (more on that after the first set of images).
I’ve posted images of Place d’Armes on numerous occasions, but not that many taken during the night, which is strange since it’s a great place to shoot after sunset.
Place d’Armes at night
ISO 200 – 10mm – f10 – 3 secs
Place d’Armes at night
ISO 200 – 10mm – f10 – 2 secs
Place d’Armes at night
ISO 200 – 10mm – f10 – 3 secs
Place d’Armes at night
ISO 200 – 10mm – f10 – 0.8 sec
If you have never been inside the Notre-Dame Basilica, you can check out an old post from December 21 2012 with some images. Likewise, I did a post about the Paul de Chomeday de Maisonneuve monument on May 17 2012 that you may want to check out.
The Polaris Light Projection
For some reason I had never noticed the projection onto the pavement in the south west corner of Place d’Armes. After a little digging on Google I discovered the background to the projection…
Each night a 19th century star map is projected onto the pavement in the south west corner of Place d’Armes. The projected map displays the New York Life Insurance building, and above it, Polaris, the pivot around which the stars of the northern hemisphere appear to move. The light projection was created to replace the original Mundus plaque when Place d’Armes was redesigned in 2011.
The projection at Place d’Armes is one of a series of Mundus installations – the inspiration of Alison Tett, a literature and humanities teacher at the Champlain College near Montreal. Each installation uses architecture to create astronomical sightlines.
The other installations can be seen at:
- Equinox on rue de la Commune.
- Four Seasons on the pillars of the Union Street entrance to the courtyard behind Christ Church Cathedral.
- Cygnus at the entrance of the BNP Paribas tower (1981 McGill College Avenue).
Mundus Polaris illumination
ISO 200 – 10mm – f10 – 0.8 sec
The Mundus Polaris illumination
ISO 200 – 10mm – f10 – 0.8 sec
For more information on The Polaris and the other Mundus installations, head on over to the Mundus Montreal website.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.
– Martin
Montréal in Pictures
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