I have decided the location, parliament hills located at bank of Ottawa River in Ottawa, Ontario,

Canada as my topic. Parliament is currently the seat of the Canada’s federal government where

the lawmakers gathers and make law for the country. I really like visiting this place because

the Parliament Buildings are located on a cliff that was formerly covered in a primeval forest of

beech and hemlock, with deep cedar swamps and a beaver meadow on the southern approach.

Also I t is bordered on the south by Wellington Street, on the east by the Rideau Canal, on the

north by the Ottawa River, and on the west by Kent Street. The tower is present on the front side

of the Parliament Building and library on the back side. The eye catching 16-sided polygonal

structure as well as two existing departmental buildings named East Block and West Block—

formed the original Gothic revival complex. When I entered the complex, grounds give the town

a formal appearance. The parliamentary grounds are characterized by a simplicity that borders on

austerity. The grounds' scenery was very distinct from the grid-like design of central Ottawa. The

steep site was a natural option for the placement of the Parliament Buildings because of its

combination of formal and informal regions that create a stunning scene. On the vast lawn, trees

are conspicuously absent. Since Confederation, the gardens around Parliament Hill have

undergone various aesthetic changes, but they have always contained a wide central promenade

that runs from the southern end of the grounds to the entrance gate at the foot of the tower. The

Centennial Flame, which was lighted on New Year's Eve 1966 to commemorate the very first

hundred years of Confederation, is located at the southern end of the promenade. There is a vast

expanse of uncluttered lawn that rises sharply from the Wellington Street fence is indeed an

outstanding feature, and it is critical that the Parliamentary lawns maintain an extreme simplicity

of form and components as a meaningful contrast to the crowded spaces near the boundary, with

the rugged cliffs, and also as an elegant complement to the late gothic architectural vocabulary.
There are three blocks in the complex i.e central, western and eastern blocks. The Centre Block,

which houses Parliament, is next to the Library and the Peace Tower, and the East and West

blocks, each being an administrative structure, make up the complex. The location is surrounded

by a landscape constructed in the beautiful style. The Centre Block is situated in the heart of the

hill, near a steep precipice and is also the copy of the British House of Commons. The East and

West blocks, which are on opposite sides of the Centre Block, form a plaza facing the city's

central business district. Monuments to key political personalities are strewn over the

surrounding open spaces. I was really overwhelmed by the visit it recreated a lot of personal

moments. After that the fact that has to be considered is the archeological interpretation of the

site that is the ground contains over 20 bronze statues. The first statue was incorporated in 1885.

Seven out of these statues are of former Prime ministers (John A. Macdonald, John Diefenbaker,

Wilfrid Laurier, Robert Borden, Alexander Mackenzie, William Lyon Mackenzie King and

Lester B. Pearson) and five statues are of Fathers of confederation (George-Étienne Cartier, a

joint memorial to Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, George Brown and Thomas

D’Arcy McGee) and two statue are of monarchs i.e. Victoria and Elizabeth II . There's also a

memorial of the "Famous Five" and their win in the Persons Case in 1929, and a memorial

to 1812 war. As part of ongoing LTVP restorations on Parliament Hill, many of these sculptures

have already been either relocated or removed. Queen Victoria picked the little town of Ottawa

as the new capital in 1857, and the federal buildings were built on Barrack Hill, which had

previously served as dwelling quarters for Royal Engineers who work on the Rideau Canal. In

order to locate acceptable architects for the complex, a competition was held in 1859.

Architectural firms submitted a wide range of styles to the Department of Public Works under

Pseudonyms. The competitor designs were of two types neo-classic and gothic revival from
which gothic revival was selected. Then a fire breaks out in the Parliament Buildings' Centre

Block on February 3, 1916, when the House of Commons is in session, causing extensive

damage to the parliament building. It was reconstructed by a team of architects that employed

newly developed structural building techniques and materials to create a design that was

identical to the original. Now talking about the indigenous history of the Parliament hills is that

most of Canadians are aware that Parliament Hill is built on the ancestral lands of the Algonquin

people, institutional land acknowledgements appear to overlook one horrible and sad truth about

the parliamentary structures. The first evidence discovered on Parliament Hill that gives clues

about  the existence of the Algonquin people of the Ottawa region is an old Indigenous

knife about 6000 years old, discovered during the reconstruction of Centre Block and then on the

grounds of the Parliament, a few fragments of pre-contact Aboriginal pottery" was discovered.

Because so many of the material used to construct the structures came from local sources,

Algonquin groups believe that the mortar used to connect the brick of the Parliament

complex contains sands from one of the four documented historic Algonquin burial sites in the

NCR. And also Approximately 20 Indigenous skeletons were excavated from a burial place near

the current grounds of the Canadian Museum of History in the 1840s, across the river from the

Parliament buildings and these skeletons were of the Algonquin people. And many Fragments of

Indigenous earthenware and a shell bead were discovered in previously "disturbed soil" on

Parliament Hill during excavations in 1992 and 1997.Today, there are roughly 11,000

Algonquians in Canada. I learnt from this is that the site currently of Parliament Hill was an

army facility that was abandoned. Parliament hills contain some features of the British

archeology. And this place contains instincts of the history and many political leaders from the

history. This location is referred regarded be the country's heart since it is where all of the
country's laws are enacted. This location is both historically and politically significant. The

parliament hills' gothic architecture had a lasting impression on me. Also, the site's history,

including how it was built and how it came to be so important in the country's political system,

made me highly influenced about the place. On a hill overlooking the Ottawa River in Canada's

capital, the Admiral historic paintings, as well as buildings embellished with Canadian motifs, in

the parliament hill complex and the historic, neo-Gothic Parliament Buildings, take pride of

place. The historic places that have been rebuilt to look like they did in the late 1800s gave

visitors a sense of the country's cultural and ethnic richness.

REFERENCES
Parliament Hill Facts. (n.d.). Https://Factsaboutcanada.Ca. Retrieved February 16, 2022, from

https://factsaboutcanada.ca/parliament-hill-facts.html

Heritage, C. (n.d.). Parliament Hill - Canada.ca. Https://Www.Canada.Ca. Retrieved February

16, 2022, from https://www.canada.ca/en/services/culture/cultural-attractions/attractions-

canada-capital/parliament-hill.html

History of the Hill - Canada’s Parliamentary Precinct - PSPC. (n.d.). Https://Www.Tpsgc-

Pwgsc.Gc.Ca. Retrieved February 16, 2022, from

https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/citeparlementaire-parliamentaryprecinct/histoire-history/

index-eng.html

Stokes, L. (2020, July 4). Unearthing Parliament Hill’s Indigenous remains. NOW Magazine.

Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https://nowtoronto.com/news/parliament-hill-

indigenous-remains

Crawford, B. (2019, January 9). How an acknowledgment of “unceded Algonquin territory”

became ubiquitous. Ottawacitizen. Retrieved February 16, 2022, from

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/how-an-acknowledgment-of-unceded-

algonquin-territory-became-ubiquitous

Parliament Buildings | buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica.

Retrieved February 16, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Parliament-

Building-Ottawa-Ontario