In 1881, Mark Twain said during a visit to Montreal:

This is the first time I was ever in a city where you couldn't throw a brick without breaking a church window.

Mr. Twain was not expressing some crude vandal inner tendency when he said that, what he was alluding to was the fact that Montreal has a lot of churches.

But it is inexact to attribute the city's surname of ''Montréal, la ville aux cent clochers'' (Montreal, the ​town of one hundred bell towers) to the American​ author.

It is true.​ ​​Like many European cities, Montreal is designated as such.

But it is believed that ​the only other thing about it (other than the quote mentioned​ above) that Mark Twain did express​ during the evening at the Windsor Hotel was to ironically ask ''where are you going to build it?'', when told that a new church was about to see the light of day.

Whoever thought​ of it first, it is nonetheless a good description of Montreal and of all the steeples that constitute a significant part of its identity.

So without further ado​, here are five good examples to illustrate the churches' rich contribution to the history of my hometown.

---

1. CHAPELLE NOTRE-DAME-DE-LOURDES

Location : 430 Sainte-Catherine Street East
Architect : Napoléon Bourassa
Architectural Style : Romano-Byzantine
Construction : 1873-1882
Parish : Saint-Jacques
Usage : church services and serving cheap meals for the poor

---

2. ÉGLISE SAINTE-CÉCILE

Location : 7390 Henri Julien Avenue
Architects : Donat-Arthur Gascon & Louis Parent
Architectural Style : Romanesque Revival
Construction : 1923-1926
Parish : Sainte-Cécile (French-speaking & Catholic)
Other Parish : Notre-Dame-de-la-Délivrance (Tamil-speaking & Catholic)

---

3. SAINT SOPHIE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL

Location : 6255 Saint-Michel Boulevard
Architect : Vladimir Sichynsky
Architectural Style : Byzantine Revival
Construction : 1960-1962
Parish : Eastern Eparchy (division) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

---

4. ÉGLISE MADONNA DI POMPEI

Location : 2875 Sauvé Street East
Architect : Fred A. Dawson
Architectural Style : Modern
Construction : 1966-1967
Parish : Notre-Dame-de-Pompei (Italian-speaking & Catholic)

---

5. ÉGLISE DE SAINT-LAURENT

Location : 805 Sainte-Croix Avenue
Builders : Joseph Barbeau (mason) & François Viau (carpenter)
Architectural Style : Gothic Revival
Construction : 1835-1837
Parish : Saint-Laurent (French-speaking & Catholic)
Other Parish : Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel Romanian Orthodox Church

---

SEE YOU AT AMAZING CHURCHES PART 2!

---

Respectfully,

*

@heroic15397

---

_{*Nature graphic by Zlatko Najdenovski from Flaticon is licensed under CC BY 3.0. Made with Logo Maker.}

---

---

Post #1 in case you missed it:

Five Beautiful Buildings in Montreal #1 - A Taste of Europe

---