The Centre Block is the main building of the three on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. Parliament Hill (colloquially The Hill, French Colline du Parlement) is a scenic location on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa (ˈɒtəwə or sometimes /ˈɒtəwɑː/ is the Capital of Canada and the country's fourth largest municipality.
The House of Commons and the Senate are located in this building, as well as a number of offices for members of Parliament (MPs), Senators, and senior administration for both Chambers. The House of Commons (Chambre des communes is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign (represented by the Governor General) and The Senate of Canada (Le Sénat du Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the sovereign (represented by the governor general The 38th Canadian Parliament was in session from October 4 2004 until November 29 2005. The Prime Minister's parliamentary office is also in the Centre Block, although he also has an office across the street in the Langevin Block where most of his staff are located. The Langevin Block is an Office building facing Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada. The Leader of the Opposition's office is also located directly above the Prime Minister's office.
Built in a modern Gothic revival style, the rectangular Centre Block is 144 metres long by 75 metres deep, and six stories high. The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement which began There are more than 25 different types of stone and marble were used in the building’s construction, though most of the exterior is Nepean sandstone, quarried near Ottawa, and the interior walls are sheeted with Tyndall limestone quarried from Manitoba. Ottawa (ˈɒtəwə or sometimes /ˈɒtəwɑː/ is the Capital of Canada and the country's fourth largest municipality. Manitoba (English ˌmænɨˈtoʊbə French /manitoba/ is a province of Canada, spanning 647797 square kilometres (250116 sq mi of North America
The western wing of the building contains the House of Commons chamber, decorated in green as in the British House of Commons, and its foyer, featuring portraits of prime ministers and carvings depicting Canadian industries. To the east is the Senate chamber, decorated in red, and its foyer, featuring portraits of Canadian monarchs. TalkCommonewalth realm.-->The monarchy of
At the central axis of the building, the Rotunda and the Library of Parliament are linked by the Hall of Honour. The Library of Parliament is an information repository and research service for the Parliament of Canada, located at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, The Rotunda provides access to the Memorial Chapel, which contains the Books of Remembrance listing all of Canada's war dead, and to the Peace Tower. The Peace Tower is part of the Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Ontario.
The main entrance to the Centre Block is featured on the obverse of the Canadian twenty-dollar bill. The Canadian $20 bill is the most common banknote of the Canadian dollar; it is the main banknote dispensed from Canadian Automatic banking machines (ABM
The richly decorated interior of the Centre Block contains allegorical scenes. An allegory (from αλλος allos "other" and el αγορευειν agoreuein "to speak in public" is a figurative mode of representation
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Great fire and rebuilding
The Centre Block burned in 1916; the edifice was entirely destroyed except for the Library of Parliament, whose treasures were preserved by a quick-thinking librarian who was able to close its massive, iron doors. Year 1916 ( MCMXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The Library of Parliament is an information repository and research service for the Parliament of Canada, located at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 The Centre Block was immediately rebuilt, being completed in 1920, with the Peace Tower, commemorating the end of the First World War, being completed in 1927. Year 1920 ( MCMXX) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display 1920 of the Gregorian calendar The Peace Tower is part of the Canadian Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Ontario. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The new structure, designed by John Pearson and Omar Marchand, again embraced Gothic Revival, but also integrated the Beaux Arts ideas current at the time. Beaux Arts architecture denotes the academic classical Architectural style that was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris.
The Peace Tower is the most prominent part of the buildings. It replaced the 55-metre Victoria Tower, burned in the 1916 fire. The Victoria Tower was the prominent main bell tower that preceded the Peace Tower in Ottawa, Canada. Like the entire interior and exterior of the building, the tower is decorated with approximately 370 stone carvings, including gargoyles, grotesques, and freizes. In Architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone Grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building When used in conversation grotesque commonly means strange fantastic ugly or bizarre and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween In Architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an Entablature and may be plain or &ndash in the Ionic or Corinthian order &ndash
The centrepiece of the new buildings is the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block, which is notable for being one of the only places where Canadians can lie in state. Lying in state is a term used to describe the tradition in which a Coffin is placed on view to allow the public at large to pay their respects to the deceased
Since then there have been a number of significant incidents in the building's history. In 1966 Paul Joseph Chartier killed himself in a Centre Block washroom while preparing to bomb the House of Commons. Paul Joseph Chartier (1921- May 18, 1966) was a Canadian man who died when a bomb he was preparing exploded in a washroom of the Parliament of Canada. In 1989 Charles Yacoub hijacked a Greyhound bus and drove it up onto Parliament Hill.
Gallery
 The Commons Chamber |
 The Senate Chamber |
 The Rotunda |
 The Hall of Honour |
Art in the Building
Paintings
| Title/Subject | Public Office | Artist | Date Painted/Created | Medium |
| The Right Honourable Sir John Alexander Macdonald | Prime Minister | Henry Sandham | 1889 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Alexander Mackenzie | Prime Minister | Artist: John Wycliffe Lowes Forster | 1897 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott | Prime Minister | Muli Tang | 2002 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Sir John Sparrow David Thompson | Prime Minister | John Wycliffe Lowes Forster | 1897 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Sir Mackenzie Bowell | Prime Minister | Joanne Tod | 2002 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Sir Charles Tupper | Prime Minister | Victor Albert Long | 1896 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier | Prime Minister | John Wentworth Russell | 1919 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden | Prime Minister | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1947 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Arthur Meighen | Prime Minister | Ernest Fosbery | 1948 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King | Prime Minister | Frank Owen Salisbury | 1945 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Richard Bedford Bennett | Prime Minister | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1962 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Louis Stephen St. Laurent | Prime Minister | Audrey Watts McNaughton | 1958 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable John George Diefenbaker | Prime Minister | Cleeve Horne | 1968 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Lester Bowles Pearson | Prime Minister | Hugh Seaforth Mackenzie | 1968 | Tempera on masonite |
| The Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau | Prime Minister | Myfanwy Spencer Pavelic | 1991 | Acrylic on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Charles Joseph Clark | Prime Minister | Patrick Douglass Cox | 2008 | |
| The Right Honourable John Napier Turner | Prime Minister | Brenda Bury | 1999 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney | Prime Minister | Igor V. Babailov | 2002 | Oil on canvas |
| The Right Honourable Kim Campbell | Prime Minister | David Goatley | 2004 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Jean-Antoine Panet | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Lower Canada | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1856 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Michel Chartier de Lotbinière | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Lower Canada | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Louis-Joseph Papineau | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Lower Canada | Alfred Boisseau | 1881 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Sir David William Smith | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1859 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Alexander McDonell (Collachie) | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Levius Peters Sherwood | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1855 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable John Willson | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1855 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Marshall Spring Bidwell | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Archibald McLean | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Sir Allan Napier MacNab | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada; Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1853 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Henry Ruttan | Speaker of the House of Assembly of the Province of Upper Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1856 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Austin (Augustin) Cuvillier | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | Copy by Théophile Hamel | 1856 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Augustin-Norbert Morin | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable John Sandfield Macdonald | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1854 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Louis-Victor Sicotte | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1855 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Sir Henry Smith | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | William Sawyer | 1869 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Joseph-Édouard Turcotte | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | Théophile Hamel | 1865 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Lewis Wallbridge | Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada | William Sawyer | 1873 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable James Cockburn | Speaker of the House of Commons | George Theodore Berthon | 1872 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Timothy Warren Anglin | Speaker of the House of Commons | John Colin Forbes | 1878 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Joseph-Godéric Blanchet | Speaker of the House of Commons | John Colin Forbes | circa 1880 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable George Airey Kirkpatrick | Speaker of the House of Commons | Frances E. Richards Rowley | 1887 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Joseph-Aldéric Ouimet | Speaker of the House of Commons | René Émile Quentin | 1889 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Peter White | Speaker of the House of Commons | Robert Harris | 1894 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Sir James David Edgar | Speaker of the House of Commons | Alphonse Jongers | circa 1899 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Thomas Bain | Speaker of the House of Commons | John Colin Forbes | circa 1900 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Louis-Philippe Brodeur | Speaker of the House of Commons | Ozias Leduc | 1904 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Napoléon-Antoine Belcourt | Speaker of the House of Commons | Charles Ignace Adélard Gill | circa 1905 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Robert Franklin Sutherland | Speaker of the House of Commons | John Wycliffe Lowes Forster | circa 1906 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Charles Marcil | Speaker of the House of Commons | Ulric Lamarche | 1912 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Thomas Simpson Sproule | Speaker of the House of Commons | John Colin Forbes | circa 1913 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Albert Sévigny | Speaker of the House of Commons | Charles Huot | circa 1918 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Edgar Nelson Rhodes | Speaker of the House of Commons | Sir Edmund Wyly Grier | 1921 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Rodolphe Lemieux | Speaker of the House of Commons | Jacqueline Comerre Paton | circa 1924 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable George Black | Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1934 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable James Langstaff Bowman | Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Keith Forbes | circa 1935 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Pierre-François Casgrain | Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Keith Forbes | circa 1940 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable James Allison Glen | Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Keith Forbes | circa 1945 | Medium: Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Gaspard Fauteux | Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1946 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable William Ross Macdonald | Speaker of the House of Commons | Lilias Torrance Newton | 1951 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Louis-René Beaudoin | Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1960 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Roland Michener | Speaker of the House of Commons | Cleeve Horne | 1962 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Marcel Lambert | Speaker of the House of Commons | Kenneth Keith Forbes | 1963 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Alan Aylesworth Macnaughton | Speaker of the House of Commons | Lilias Torrance Newton | circa 1964 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Lucien Lamoureux | Speaker of the House of Commons | Suraj Sadan | 1977 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable James Jerome | Speaker of the House of Commons | Robert Stewart Hyndman | 1979 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Jeanne Sauvé | Speaker of the House of Commons | Brenda Bury | 1984 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Lloyd Francis | Speaker of the House of Commons | Anita Elizabeth Kertzer | 1987 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable John Bosley | Speaker of the House of Commons | Shirley Van Dusen | 1993 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable John Allen Fraser | Speaker of the House of Commons | Gregory Furmanczyk | 1994 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Gilbert Parent | Speaker of the House of Commons | David Goatley | 2001 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Sir George Eulas Foster | Member of Parliament | T. Eyre Macklin | 1926 | Oil on canvas |
| The Honourable Thomas D’Arcy McGee | Member of Parliament | Bruce Mitchell | 1957 | Oil on canvas |
| The Fathers of Confederation | Historic event/people | Rex Woods | 1968 | Oil on canvas |
| Sir George E. Cartier | Member of Parliament, Father of Confederation, former Joint-Premier of the United Provinces of Canada | Juliette de Lavoye | circa 1965 | Watercolour on ivory / Glass; velvet; walnut |
| George Brown | Member of Parliament, Father of Confederation | Juliette de Lavoye | circa 1965 | Watercolour on ivory; Glass; velvet; walnut |
| Sir John A. Macdonald | Member of Parliament, Prime Minister | Juliette de Lavoye | circa 1965 | Watercolour on ivory; Glass; velvet; walnut |
| The Royal Visit, 1939 | Historic event/people | Frank Owen Salisbury | 1941 | Oil on canvas |
| Opening of Parliament in the 19th Century | Historic event/people | William Harvey Sadd | 1901 | Oil on canvas |
| Discovery of Canada by Jacques Cartier | Historic event/person, French explorer | Copy by Augustine Leriverend after Ferdinand Perrot (1840) | Oil on canvas | |
| Major General James Wolfe | Military figure/history | Copy by Théophile Hamel | circa 1865 | Oil on canvas |
| Louis Joseph Marquis de Montcalm | Military figure/history | Copy by Théophile Hamel | circa 1865 | Oil on canvas |
| Sir George Prevost | Military figure/history | Copy by Théophile Hamel after Robert Field (circa 1808) | 1864 | Oil on canvas |
| Amerigo Vespucci | explorer | Copy by Antoine Sébastien Falardeau | 1857 | Oil on canvas |
| Christopher Columbus | explorer | Copy by Antoine Sébastien Falardeau | 1853 | Oil on canvas |
Sculptures
| Title/Subject | Public Office | Artist | Date Painted/Created | Medium |
| Lieutenant-Colonel George Harold Baker | Member of Parliament | Robert Tait McKenzie | 1923 | Bronze |
| The Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden | Prime Minister | Alfred Laliberté | 1915 | Marble |
| The Right Honourable Sir Robert Laird Borden | Prime Minister | Lionel Gooch Fosbery | 1927 | Plaster, painted |
| The Honourable Ellen Louks Fairclough | First Woman Cabinet Minister | Elizabeth M. Bradford Holbrook | 1959 | Bronze |
| The Right Honourable William Lyon Mackenzie King | Prime Minister | Avard Tennyson Fairbanks | 1943 | Bronze |
| The Right Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier | Prime Minister | Lionel Gooch Fosbery | 1938 | Plaster, painted |
| The Honourable Alexander Mackenzie | Prime Minister | Cléophas Soucy | 1943 | Plaster, painted |
| The Honourable Agnes Campbell Macphail | First woman elected to the House of Commons | Felix Weihs de Weldon | 1939 | Bronze |
| The Right Honourable Roland Michener | Governor General | Kenneth Jarvis | 1982 | Bronze |
| The Right Honourable Louis Stephen St. Laurent | Prime Minister, Member of Parliament | Ernest Richard Gause | 1954 | Bronze |
| James Shaver Woodsworth | Leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Member of Parliament | Cléophas Soucy | 1946 | Plaster, painted |
| Sir John George Bourinot | Clerk of the House of Commons | Roland Beauchamp | 1949 | Bronze |
| Dollard des Ormeaux | Alfred Laliberté | 1923 (circa 1911-1915) | Bronze | |
| La France | Auguste Rodin | 1921 (1904) | Bronze |
Source: [1]
References
External links
| Library of Parliament Centre Block Commons | Senate Peace Tower |
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| West Block | Parliament of Canada Parliament Hill |
East Block |
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