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The Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World is the third largest church in Quebec, after Saint Joseph's Oratory and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré. It is located in downtown Montreal. Controversy was sparked due to its location in the western part of downtown, in a then predominantly English neighbourhood far from the homes of the French-Canadian church-goers. It was chosen by Mgr. Ignace Bourget, bishop of Montreal (statue at the top right corner), who ordered the construction. Replica on reduced scale of the Saint Peter's Basilica of Rome, this cathedral was built to replace Saint-James church, destroyed on several occasions by fires. In 1955, it was dedicated to Mary, Queen of the World, by Pope Pius XII at the request of Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger.

The Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth is next to the Cathedral. It is connected to the underground city and stands above the Central Station. It is the hotel with the biggest number of rooms (1039) in Quebec and is situated 3rd in Canada after Delta Chelsea, Toronto (1590 rooms) and Fairmont Royal York (1365 rooms). There has been a bitter controversy over naming the hotel. Quebec nationalists wanted it called Château Maisonneuve in honour of Montreal's founder. But Canadian National Railway president (the owner at that time) stubbornly insisted it be named for the queen, who had come to the throne in 1952 while the hotel was still on the drawing boards. The French name, Le Reine Elizabeth, may appear startling because of the use of the masculine article le. The article does not apply to the feminine noun Reine, but to the masculine noun Hôtel.

Source : Wikipedia and oral tradition.

Workshop#1: Cathedral façade close-up – Instead of the statues of the twelve apostles on the façade of St. Peter's in Rome, the front of the church is topped by statues of the patron saints of thirteen parishes of Montreal who donated them, including St. John the Baptist and St. Patrick.

Workshop#2: wider view of the church.

More info about the Cathedral.