Vancouver is British Columbia’s largest city and has numerous monuments that are famous across Canada and beyond. The statue of “Gassy Jack” helps to connect the past to the present and future of the city while the activities and attractions of Stanley Park have been able to attract audiences by the millions. However, these notable monuments are far from the only ones spread across the city.
Digital Orca is a 2009 sculpture of a killer whale by Douglas Coupland, installed next to the Vancouver Convention Centre. It breaks down a three-dimensional Orca hale into cubic pixels to make a familiar symbol of the West Coast become something new.
The Angel of Victory sits outside the Waterfront Station and depicts a fallen soldier being carried up to heaven by a female angel. The inscription on the piece is a dedication to the memory of the 1,116 Canadian Pacific Railway employees who died in World War I.
Light Shed looks like a house built on stilts and sits near the water located on the seawall of Harbour Green Park in the Coal Harbour neighborhood. It is based on the great freight shed location on the Vancouver City Wharf in Coal Harbour in the early 1900s. The half-scale version recalls the simple wooden buildings, which marked the industrial activity of the harbor in this early era of the city.
The former Thurlow Plaza was renamed Jack Poole Plaza in honor of Jack Poole’s memory. As the head of the VANOC bid committee, he was responsible for bringing the 2010 Winter Olympics to Canada. The external cauldron for the games was chosen to be built at the Jack Poole Plaza as well. It has become a popular place for both visitors and residents to take photos.
These are just a few of the obscure and outstanding monuments that are spread across Vancouver. These pieces and places along with the numerous monuments spread across Stanley Park have helped both residents and tourists engage with the city in different but equally powerful ways to impact the identity of Vancouver as a whole.
