Media Coverage

Canada Gets First Holocaust Monument

Canada’s first monument devoted to the Holocaust was unveiled in Ottawa on September 27, 2017. The National Holocaust Monument by Daniel Libeskind's architecture firm pays tribute to the millions of Jews who were massacred by the Nazis, while also recognizing the survivors who escaped to Canada and made a life there. Spread over 0.8 acres, the monument constitutes six tall concrete walls structured like a distorted Star of David. It is an important symbol for Jews as they were compelled to wear it as badges to make it easier for the Nazis to spot them. The tallest of the six volumes is called Sky Void, and is flanked on three sides by four-meter-high walls. Visitors can enter through the space on the fourth side, which also contains Flame of Remembrance and captures a piece of the sky in its slit, notes Dezeen Magazine.

6 Questions about Canada's New National Holocaust Monument

“There were small ones, but there was no national monument” until now, says Dov Goldstein of Lord Cultural Resources, who acted as project manager on the monument. “There was nothing that spoke nationally about the Holocaust.”

Goldstein recalls that the idea of a national Holocaust monument for Canada was actually put forward by a university student named Laura Grossman roughly a decade ago.

Then, in 2009, the idea of a national Holocaust monument was introduced as a private member’s bill in Parliament by Conservative MP Tim Uppal. It received Royal Assent in 2011, and fundraising began.

According to Goldstein, funds for the monument were roughly “half and half” private and public—legally, all proponents of national monuments “are responsible for the funding of their commemorative monument,” states policy on the issue.

In 2013, Lord Cultural responded to a request for proposals for the monument project, and assembled a multidisciplinary team: New York architect Daniel Libeskind, Quebec landscape architect Claude Cormier, Toronto photographer Edward Burtynsky, and University of Toronto Holocaust historian Doris Bergen. Their proposal won in 2014.

First Look at Studio Libeskind's National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa

Inaugurated last week, this memorial is Canada's first national monument dedicated to the Holocaust.

After winning the international competition to design the National Holocaust Monument in 2014, Studio Libeskind, together with Lord Cultural Resources, Edward Burtynsky, landscape architect Claude Cormier, and Holocaust scholar Doris Bergen were selected, from six finalist teams, to undertake the project. This is not the first time that Studio Libeskind has designed a Holocaust memorial: Previously, the firm completed the Jewish Museum Berlin and Ohio Statehouse Holocaust Memorial in Columbus. It is currently designing the Names Monument which is scheduled to break ground early next year in Amsterdam.

Monumental Emotions

Ottawa's National Holocaust Monument speaks to more than just the mind, offering visitors the opportunity to feel the weight of the past and hope for the future through its symbolic design features.

Canada’s new National Holocaust Monument is ‘about you’: Hume

The new National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa isn’t a building or a sculpture. “It falls between these things,” says its designer, Daniel Libeskind.

Nitish's heritage reality- Museum opens with 7 galleries

Chief minister Nitish Kumar dedicated the much awaited Bihar Museum to the public on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary and expressed happiness that it would help showcase the invaluable exhibits related to the history of the state and the country.

The chief minister pointed out that the best of international experts were hired. Canada-based Lord Cultural Resources was the master consultant while Japanese firm Maki and Associates was chosen as the main architectural consultant for Bihar Museum.

Studio Libeskind Completes Canada's first Holocaust Monument in Ottawa

The project involved a team that included consultation firm Lord Cultural Resources, photographer Edward Burtynsky, landscape architect Claude Cormier, and Holocaust scholar Doris Bergen.

The group won the competition for the project in 2014, beating proposals by David Adjaye and Ron Arad among others.

A Collector's Dream: Creating Your Own Museum as a Legacy

Gail Lord was quoted in the article "A Collector's Dream: Creating Your Own Museum as a Legacy" in the The New York Times by Paul Sullivan. 

“A collector may say, ‘I want this material to be seen in perpetuity,’ but they don’t realize that the type of expenses that are involved are significantly more than where they’re holding the works now,” said Gail Lord, a founder of Lord Cultural Resources, a cultural planning firm.

“There are occupancy costs, which include heating, lighting, cooling and security, and insurance is a very significant cost,” said Ms. Lord, who is also the firm’s president. “‘Open to the public’ means there has to be a staff of some type who is going to be opening the doors and charging or not charging admission. You also need someone to provide information to fulfill the educational requirement.”

Canada’s first national Holocaust memorial opens in Ottawa

Canada today (27 September) inaugurated its first national Holocaust Monument, in Ottawa, an endeavour ten years in the making. A grassroots campaign to build the monument was launched in 2007 by a student at the University of Ottawa, Laura Grossman, and construction on the C$9m ($7.25m) project began last year. It was supported by the National Holocaust Monument Development Council, with matching funds from the Canadian Government. The concept of monument, landscape of loss, memory and survival, came from Toronto-based Lord Cultural Resources, and was chosen in 2014 from a shortlist that included proposals from the architects David Adjaye and Ron Arad.

National Holocaust Monument unveiled in downtown Ottawa

The long wait for a national Holocaust memorial ended Wednesday with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau inaugurating the city’s newest monument in downtown Ottawa.