Saturday 30 April 2011

Saturday Photo: A Granite Bench Commemorating Portugal's Bard

Rain glistened on the granite last week, but the words of 12 Portuguese writers shone though the bad weather, even triumphing over graffiti left by taggers.

The words--short quotations in Portuguese with French translations--are a unique tribute to a culture that changed the world five centuries ago and changed Montreal much more recently. They are engraved on a dozen granite benches on St. Lawrence boulevard, a joint project of the city of Montreal, the Institut Camões and other groups.

I wrote about them in an article I did this week for SpacingMontreal and I'll be talking about them next Saturday and Sunday when I do a Jane's Walk in Montreal's Bairro Português. If you'd like more info, check out the Facebook page: I'd love to see you there as we visit a neighborhood that Jane Jacobs would have loved.

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