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Vancouver Icons: Angel of Victory

Comments 7 by Rebecca Bollwitt

As a part of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s ‘Places that Matter‘ committee, I get my fix of local history at every meeting. I was recently looking through some of the sites already nominated for designation and found the Angel of Victory.

Walking Tour of Gastown

Installed in 1921, it is one of the city’s most prominent statues, located along Cordova St, right in front of Waterfront Station [Google Map]. The bronze depiction is of an angel carrying a World War I soldier up to heaven.

_MG_8680
Photo credit: donnaidh_sidhe on Flickr

According to the City, this is one of three identical statues (the others in Montreal and Winnipeg) commissioned by the CPR to honour their workers who made the ultimate sacrifice by going to war. The angel originally held a full wreath in her upraised hand and after WW II, the dates of that war were also added to the plaque.

Risen the way to heaven
Photo credit: Kurrs, kandyjaxx, on Flickr
urban angel
Photo credit: kandyjaxx on Flickr

The Angel of Victory has inspired me to start a new series called Vancouver Icons. I will be featuring classic Vancouver locations and monuments, offering a bit of history, and sharing a collection of photos that I find on Flickr. The series will be updated at least once every week.

BarCamp Vancouver Photowalk
Photo credit: kk+ on Flickr

Nominations are still open for ‘Places that Matter‘ to you in Vancouver until March 15th. Criteria can be found on the online nomination form.

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7 Comments  —  Comments Are Closed

  1. KelliSunday, March 13th, 2011 — 4:12pm PDT

    I LOVE your history stuff and am really looking forward to this new edition!

  2. NicoleMonday, March 14th, 2011 — 10:40am PDT

    I think that the new series will be great! I have lived here my whole life and didn’t know anything about this statue.

    Thanks for making more people aware.

  3. VanessaMonday, March 14th, 2011 — 10:41am PDT

    I remember super imposing the Angel of Victory w/ a bunch of canucks players back in HS for “hockey angels” 🙂

  4. Heritage Vancouver SocietyMonday, March 14th, 2011 — 11:27am PDT

    Angel of Victory was included as part of our 2009 Top 10 Endangered Sites as #6 Historic Monuments, due to the City having no plan in place for their maintenance, repair or restoration, nor is there any identified budget or management plan for their long term conservation.

    http://www.heritagevancouver.org/topten/2009/topten2009_06.html

  5. Nicole EliseTuesday, March 15th, 2011 — 3:37pm PDT

    I love this statue! One of the nicest in our fine city!

  6. GillianWednesday, March 16th, 2011 — 8:52am PDT

    I loved this piece on Vancouver Icons and look forward the next one.

  7. fotoeinsWednesday, March 23rd, 2011 — 5:59am PDT

    Great piece! I’m also looking forward to your highlighting additional Vancouver icons in the near future.

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