As a frequent visitor to the old Expo 67 grounds I have come to learn that the best time to visit is in the Fall when most of the leaves have fallen. The city, having long ago razed most of the old buildings into the ground, decided to replace them with a seemingly random planting of trees. It is when the leaves fall that one can be afforded some unusal finds. It was during a recent visit to the Ile Notre-Dame that found an unusal 'archeological' dicovery and here it is.

 


Above, the United Nations Pavilion as it looked during Expo 67. To the center right of the image you can see The Joseph Rifesser
sculpture L'arbe de vie / Tree of Life
The Joseph Rifesser sculpture L'arbe de vie / Tree of Life in its current location (upper center of the image)at the Lionel Groulx metro
station in Montreal, Quebec.
Detail of Rifesser's L'arbe de vie / Tree of Life in Lionel Groux Metro station Left: as it looked at the United Nations pavilion and right: today
Aaerial image showing the United Nations pavilion and the steps that led up to the upper platform where
the member nationalflags were displayed
Alas, all that is left of the actual building is this portion of the upper platform
Another shot of the remaining portion of upper platform


and, as random as the plan for planting trees on the old Expo site was the rationale behind the demolition of the buildings as today the
steps that led to the upper platform of the pavilion are still there today

 

Some Good News!
It's not all grim - someone (and I'm still trying to find out whom and for what purpose) has decided to restore and repurpose the old
Jamaican Pavilion. Below is a photo I took on Nov. 24/08 which shows the new roof. Looking forward to seeing what it will
be used for. My guess, as it is very close to the Casino (the old France and Quebec pavilions) that it's most likely to be
associated with that.




The pavilion of Jamaica in 1967


Contact DC Hillier