Place d’Armes is one of Montreal’s oldest public squares and a compact lesson in the city’s history. First laid out in 1693 by the Sulpicians under the name Place de la Fabrique, it later took on the name Place d’Armes in 1721, when the space was used for military gatherings. Over time, the square shifted from parade ground to marketplace before being redesigned as a formal public square in the nineteenth century.

Today it sits at the centre of Old Montreal, surrounded by buildings that trace several eras of the city’s development. Notre-Dame Basilica anchors the square, while the nearby Saint-Sulpice Seminary—built in the 1680s—is the oldest surviving structure in the area. Other landmarks include the Bank of Montreal’s historic headquarters and early high-rise commercial buildings that reflect the rise of Montreal as Canada’s financial capital in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

At the centre of the square stands the Maisonneuve Monument, installed in 1895 to commemorate the city’s founder, Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve. Beneath the plaza lie archaeological traces of earlier structures, including the foundations of the original Notre-Dame church.