Читать книгу Toronto Sketches 11 - Mike Filey - Страница 16

While there are numerous pieces of public art, as well as hundreds of monuments and statues to be found in all areas of our city, there are only a couple that feature horses. One of the most obvious is the Steve Stavros Memorial located in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. It may depict the Macedonian king Alexander the Great astride his favourite mount, Bucephalus. I say “may,” since I have yet to find specific details about the monument. Therefore, I admit right up front that my description is an assumption and is based on the fact that the eclectic Mr. Stavros, who died in 2006, was a proud Canadian of Macedonia descent and a confirmed lover of race horses. I wonder if I’m correct.

The only other major sculpture that I can think of that features a horse is the King Edward VII statue located just north of the Ontario Legislative Building in the Queen’s Park. I call it “the” Queen’s Park, since it was named in honour of the reigning monarch of the day, Queen Victoria, by her then-nineteen-year-old son Edward, the Prince of Wales, during his visit to Toronto in 1860. When Victoria died in 1901, Edward ascended the British throne as King Edward VII.

Relatively new to our city, the three-ton monument was originally created in 1919 by the English sculptor Sir Thomas Brock, who was also responsible for the massive Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace in London. Brock’s tribute to the queen’s son (who reigned for a mere nine years compared to his mother’s nearly sixty-four years) was originally placed in Delhi, India, but when that country became a sovereign state in 1950 many of the items from the British colonial days were hidden away.

Unveiled in 1969, this statue of King Edward VII is located in Queen’s Park, north of the Ontario Legislative Building.

Courtesy of the Honourable Henry N.R. Jackman.

Here are some more horses, although this time they’re in the form of mechanical horses under the hoods of these vehicles seen northbound on University Avenue at Richmond Street, circa 1947.

In 1964, the abandoned King Edward VII statue came to the attention of Canada’s High Commissioner to India, Roland Michener, who three years later was to become the nation’s governor general. He contacted Toronto businessman and philanthropist Henry Jackman and, with funds raised by public donations, it wasn’t long before the king and his horse (albeit in pieces) were on their way to Toronto.

Once reassembled, the city’s newest landmark was ready for unveiling at an event that took place in 1969. Oh, and just as Roy Rogers had “Trigger,” and Gene Autry had “Champion,” King Edward had “Kildare,” a name that could be the answer to a fascinating game of Toronto trivia.

May 23, 2010