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The focal point of Vieux-Montreal is the Place d'Armes , its centre occupied by a century-old statue of Maisonneuve, whose missionary zeal raised the wrath of the displaced Iroquois. The mutt among the luminaries represents the animal who warned the French of an impending attack in 1644; legend has it that the ensuing battle ended when the unarmed Maisonneuve killed the Iroquois chief on this very spot. Despite the addition of an ugly skyscraper on its west side, the square is still dominated by the twin-towered, neo-Gothic Basilique Notre-Dame , 110 rue Notre-Dame ouest (daily 7am-8pm; $2), the cathedral of the Catholic faithful since 1829. Its architect, the Protestant Irish-American James O'Donnell, was so inspired by his creation that he converted to Catholicism in order to be buried under the church. The western of the two towers, named Temperance, holds the ten-tonne Jean-Baptiste bell, whose booming can be heard 25km away. The breathtaking gilt and sky-blue interior, flooded with light from three rose windows and flickering with multicoloured votive candles, was designed by Montreal architect Victor Bourgeau. Most notable of the detailed furnishings are Louis-Philippe Hebert's fine wooden carvings of the prophets on the pulpit and the awe-inspiring main altar by French sculptor Bouriche. Imported from Limoges in France, the stained-glass windows depict the founding of Ville-Marie. Behind the main altar is the Chapelle Sacre-Coeur, destroyed by a serious fire in 1978 but rebuilt with an impressive bronze reredos by Charles Daudelin. Behind the fieldstone walls and wrought-iron gates to the right of Notre-Dame is the low-lying, mock-medieval Seminaire de St-Sulpice , saved from blandness by a portal that's topped by North America's oldest public timepiece, which began chiming in 1701. Generally considered Montreal's oldest building, the seminary was founded in 1685 by the Paris-based Sulpicians, who instigated the establishment of Montreal by Maisonneuve as a religious mission. They liked the place so much that they bought the whole island, and until 1854 were in charge of religious and legal affairs in the colony. The seminary is still the Canadian headquarters of the Sulpicians, but their duties are now limited to maintaining the basilica. The domed shrine of Montreal's financial rulers, the Banque de Montreal , stands opposite. This grand, classical-revival building still houses the headquarters of Canada's oldest bank, which rose from its foundation by a few Scottish immigrants to serve the entire nation until the creation of the Bank of Canada in the 1930s. Erected in 1837, it was built to resemble the Roman Pantheon. The interior marble counters, black pillars and gleaming brass and bronze fittings ooze wealth and luxury. A small Numismatic Museum (Mon-Fri 10am-4pm; free) displays early account books, banknotes, coins and pictures of the bank. British names once controlled the finances of the continent from the stately limestone, griffin-capped institutions along rue St-Jacques , once the Wall Street of Canada, but French businesses now rule the roost. The red-sandstone building on the northeast corner of Place d'Armes and rue St-Jacques was built for the New York Life Insurance Co. in 1888, and at eight stories high, was the city's first skyscraper. Next door at 501 Place-d'Armes, the Aldred Building is among the city's finest examples of the Art Deco style. Both are dwarfed today by the black monolith on the west side of the square that houses the Banque Nationale, built in 1967 as a symbol of newfound francophone business strength. Transformations have also occurred alongside the basilica, in the area around rue St-Sulpice , where the warehouses constructed in the Victorian era to cope with the growing trade of Montreal's harbour have been converted into luxurious flats and offices. Many of the continent's first explorers once lived here - including Pierre Gaulthier de Varennes, who charted South Dakota, the Rockies and Wyoming, and Daniel Greysolon du Luth, who roamed over Minnesota.
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