The Maisonneuve Monument (Monument à Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve) commemorates Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, the founder and first governor of Ville-Marie, later named Montreal. Louis-Philippe Hébert sculpted it, and it was unveiled on July 1st, 1895, as part of the 250th anniversary of the city.
The monument contains a statue of Maisonneuve standing on top of a granite column. On the bottom, four bas-reliefs depicting important events accrued in Montréal’s early days. Each corner of the column has a statue depicting a character associated with the city’s foundation: an anonymous Iroquois warrior; Charles Lemoyne, who was in charge of the colony’s security; Raphaël-Lambert Closse, the sergeant-major of the colony’s garrison; and Jeanne Mance who founded the first hospital. The statue depicts her as she calmly and gently takes care of an injured child, bandaging its wrist.
Several landmarks nearby commemorate Montréal’s founders, including the Jeanne Mance Marker on Saint-Sulpice Street, the origins of Montréal Marker, the Notre-Dame Basilica, Montréal’s Founders and First Colonists Monument, and Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
Jeanne Mance (1606-1673) was born in Langres, France. During the Thirty Years’ War, she volunteered for various charitable societies and developed nursing skills. In 1640, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve asked her to join the first group of people to settle in a new French colony on the Island of Montréal and to be responsible for the settlers’ healthcare. On her arrival to the new world in 1642, she established a hospital in her home; three years later, she founded the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, where she served as a nurse, director, and treasurer and became known as the “Angel of the Colony.” She lived in the new city until she died at the age of 67. Only in 2012, was she recognized by Montreal’s city council as a co-founder of Montreal.
Another statue of her stands at the entrance to the hospital she had founded, Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.
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