Je suis étudiant en conservation du patrimoine et en architecture à l'université de Montréal. Pour mon projet final je cherche a entrer dans l'église. Comme je vois que tu y est arrivé, je me demandais si tu pouvais m'indiquer comment faire.

The city of Montreal has been known as the "City of Steeples". But I fear it will be called the "City of Forgotten Steeples" in the very near future. If i was mayor of this city I would create a Mandate to save our Churches.

If there is a fund to save this church then I would be most interested in knowing.

http://controleman.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/sauvons-leglise-saint-sauveur/

Thieves, vandals target church
Montreal Gazette
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Page: A1 / FRONT
Section: News
Byline: ALAN HUSTAK
Source: The Gazette

Panels from all but four of 19 stained-glass windows in an abandoned church on Viger Square have been stolen or broken in recent weeks - and no one seems to know who's in charge of security at the site.

Squatters have repeatedly broken into the former Syriac Catholic Cathedral of St. Sauveur, and the investors in Paris who own the building say they have been frustrated in their attempts to secure the site and protect the windows, said to be worth a total of $250,000.

There are gaping holes where 52 coloured glass panels have been removed from their frames.

One of the most valuable windows by Guido Nincheri, sometimes referred to as Montreal's Michelangelo, depicts the Assumption of Mary; it has been vandalized beyond repair.

The building, at St. Denis St. and Viger Ave., has been empty since it was sold to European developers six years ago.

The Quebec government recently announced it will expropriate the site to build the mega-hospital for the Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal.

"The building has been under siege by the homeless every year for the last six years," Michael Sniatowsky, a spokesperson for the owners, said in an email from Europe.

"The recent damage is the work of organized thieves, not squatters or the homeless.

"Some windows appear to be stolen, as thieves came with tools and were apparently diligent in their work.

"I have repeatedly asked CHUM to help secure the premises, as they own and operate the neighbouring property and they do have a large security contingent adjacent to the property."

CHUM communications adviser Nathalie Forgue said responsibility for the building's security remains with the owners until the building is sold.

"CHUM doesn't own it yet, so there is not much we can do," she said. "We are still evaluating what our assets will be."

It is understood the CHUM had planned to return some of the windows to the Syriac community, which plans to build a new cathedral in the city's north end.

Others were destined for the Musee des maitres et artisans du Quebec in St. Laurent.

The church was originally called Holy Trinity when it was built in 1865 for an Anglican congregation from the imperial garrison in Montreal. It was endowed by William Molson's wife.

After the First World War, it was sold to the Syriac Catholic congregation, an Eastern Rite sect that is in communion with Rome, but whose headquarters are in Beirut. There are an estimated 5,000 Syriac Catholics in the Montreal area.

Rene Angelil, husband of singer Celine Dion, was baptized in the church.

When developers bought the structure in 2000, there was talk of turning it into a live jazz supper club and spa. There were also rumours it would become a recording studio, a sushi bar and a rave palace.

Despite its pedigree, the building, with its 52-metre spire, has never been declared a historic property. Its windows had been covered with plywood - which thieves apparently removed.

Most of the chancel's stained-glass windows, produced by the J.C. Spence glassworks of Montreal, are intact. They are dedicated to the memory of Rev. Mark Willoughby, an Anglican priest who died of typhus in 1847 tending to Irish immigrants.

The two Nincheri windows - one of the Ascension of Jesus, the other of the Assumption - were added in 1923 after fire gutted the interior of the church.

Both windows are something of a mystery: they are signed by the artist and dated 1913, but Nincheri, who excelled in sacred art, didn't arrive in Montreal from his native Italy until the following year.

Most of the windows in the building are by the celebrated Canadian stained-glass artist John Patrick O'Shea, and at least one is by the Hobbs Manufacturing Co., also of Montreal.

At 143 years old I think the cost of preservation in the grand scheme of a 1.5 Billion dollar project is minimal. Even though a lot of the building has been damaged or looted, the old stone structure in the midst of a modern mega hospital would be stunning.

We pride ourselves in being a UNESCO City of Design. Don't you think we could design a new hospital that doesn't destroy more of a neighborhood that has already lost so much of it's architectural heritage.

What can be done do change the plans for the CHUM before it is too late?

I do agree that the church should be preserved, but Montreal architects and developers have a poor history of integrating existing buildings into new structures, especially in cases where the functions of the two buildings are different - take, for instance, the disjointed facade of the Royal George apartments on the side of the library building at Concordia, or the church integrated into UQAM's campus. If a feasible use for the interior of the building could be found, then every effort should be made for Saint-Sauveur's preservation; if not, the last thing this city needs is another poorly executed illusion of preservation.