Montreal In Pictures

July 15 2012

Another hot day here in Montreal. I thought it would be a bit cooler over on Ile Sainte-Hélène and since it was the last day of the Week-ends du Monde festival, we decided to head across to Parc Jean-Drapeau. I was wrong about it being cooler, and seeing people swimming at the Aquatic Complex or heading to the beach with towels under their arms, made us wish we had come to go swimming.

I didn’t actually take too many photo’s of the du Monde festival which featured music and food from 60 countries around the globe, in the end spending only about an hour on the island.

A key attraction on Ile Sainte-Hélène is the Biosphère environment museum that since 1994 has promoted the study of water and the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence ecosystem. Built in 1967 as the United States Pavilion for the 67 world’s fair. Designed by Richard Buckminster Fuller it was one of the largest attractions at the fair.

In 1976 while the building was being repaired a fire broke out destroying the transparent acrylic skin. It was decided not to replace the outer covering despite Fuller suggesting solutions for its’ repair. In 1990 Environment Canada signed an agreement with the City of Montreal to transform the structure into the present eco museum which opened in the summer of 1995.

In June this year it was announced that due to Federal Government cost cutting, the future of the Biosphère is now threatened and all 25 employees at the center received notice that their positions would be affected in the latest round of cuts. Hopefully a way will be found to save it and allow the educational activities it provides to continue.

Biosphère on Ile Sainte-Hélène
ISO 100 – 10mm – f11 – 1/250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

The Biosphère on Ile Sainte-Hélène
ISO 100 – 10mm – f11 – 1/250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

The Biosphère on Ile Sainte-Hélène
ISO 100 – 20mm – f11 – 1/250 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Today’s shots of the Biosphère were a bit last minute. I’ve been planning to go shoot the Biosphère for a while and will return to shoot in more detail as the structure has some great photographic potential. I just better make sure to go soon before it closes 🙁

Following are a couple of other shots I took while walking around the Week-ends du Monde festival. The first image shows the great sculpture by Alexander Calder called L’Homme that was made for Expo 67. You can see more images of this and other sculptures on Ile Sainte-Hélène in a previous post on expo 67 sculptures.