ORIGIN OF THE NAME

Avenue du Mont-Royal. Although at 233 metres many would call it a hill, Mount Royal dominates the skyline of Montreal. So named in 1535 by Jacques Cartier in honour of his patron King François I of France, the mountain gave its name to the island, as Île de Montréal; réal is an alternate form of royal in old French, though it may also come from the Italian version monte Reale applied by an Italian cartographer. The island in turn gave its name to the town, which had been founded under the name Ville-Marie. The mountain is part of the Monteregian chain, to which it also gave its name (Mons Regius in Latin). It actually has three peaks: Westmount, Outremont, and Montreal. Contrary to popular belief, the mountain is not an extinct volcano; it is formed from magma extruded into the earth's crust, forming a very hard rock called gabbro. Afterwards, erosion of the surrounding softer rocks exposed the mountain. Mount Royal Park, the jewel of downtown Montreal, was designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in New York. (See also Parc.) Avenue du Mont-Royal is so called as it leads up to the foot of the mountain and the border of the park; it is also an important thoroughfare of the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal.

PLATFORM DEPTH 13,4 m deep (39th deepest station)

TRAFFIC 4 305 252 entrances in 2006 (17th busiest station)

INTERSTATION DISTANCE

To Sherbrooke: To Laurier: 932,10 metres 499,60 metres

TRIVIA

This mural by Les Industries perdues, on a building bordering the place Gérald-Godin, was added during the redesign of the square in cooperation with the STCUM's Réno-Métro project. It consists of a poem, "Tango de Montréal," from the collection Sarzènes by the poet and politician Gérald Godin. Tango de Montréal Gérald Godin Sept heures et demie du matin métro de Montréal c'est plein d'immigrants ça se lève de bonne heure ce monde-là le vieux coeur de la ville battrait-il donc encore grâce à eux ce vieux coeur usé de la ville avec ses spasmes ses embolies ses souffles au coeur et tous ses défauts et toutes les raisons du monde qu'il aurait de s'arrêter de renoncer Montreal Tango translated by Matt McLauchlin 7:30 AM in the Montreal metro it's full of immigrants they get up early those people so if the old heart of the city is still beating is it thanks to them this old tired heart of the city with its spasms its attacks its murmurs and all its faults and all the reasons in the world it could find to stop to give up