Toronto (Canada)

Toronto (Canada)

Toronto is Canada ‘s largest city and one of the world’s largest financial centers. In addition, Toronto is Canada ‘s most ethnically diverse city, with about 49% of its residents being immigrants. It is located in the southeastern part of the province of Ontario, which is called the “Golden Horseshoe” or “Ontario Peninsula”, on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. Toronto in the language of the indigenous inhabitants of this region of Canada – the Hurons – means “meeting place”. And in fact, since ancient times, this place was located at the junction of the main trade routes and was an important trading center. Toronto was founded in the late 18th century and was called York. The current name of the city was given in 1834. Toronto, together with nearby cities, forms the whole agglomeration of Greater Toronto with a total population of about 5 million and an area of 630 square meters. km.

According to PAYHELPCENTER, the old part of Toronto – Downtown – is located on the shores of Lake Ontario. In the 20th century, this area was built up with skyscrapers, there are about 2,000 buildings over 90 m high. Today, Downtown is the commercial center of Toronto. Downtown’s central street is Bay Street. It has numerous banks, shops, restaurants and clubs. From anywhere on Bay Street you can see the tallest skyscraper in North America – the CN Tower. The 72-storey tower was built in 1975 and until 2007 was the tallest building in the world. Its height is 553 m. The CN Tower consists of the main part with a height of 451 m, where 6 high-speed elevators operate, and a 102-meter antenna. At an altitude of 342 m, observation platforms begin. The first platform has a transparent floor. At an altitude of 346 m there is a second observation deck and Horizons Cafe, and at an altitude of 351 m there is a restaurant “360”, which rotates around the axis of the tower and makes a complete revolution in 72 minutes. The CN Tower is the hallmark of Toronto. From the observation decks of the tower you can see the city and its environs, and in good weather even Niagara Falls, which is located 140 km from Toronto.

Next to the CN Tower is a huge indoor Sky Dome stadium with retractable roof. The stadium is designed for 56 thousand spectators. Bay Street leads to New City Hall, which was completed in 1965. Northwest at University Avenue are the sprawling Chinatown and the Art Gallery of Ontario.. The Art Gallery of Ontario was founded in 1900 and is now one of the largest museums on the continent. The gallery consists of 50 rooms, where about 70,000 pieces of art are presented, starting from the 1st century AD. and up to our days. Canadian art occupies more than half of the museum’s collection. European art is represented by the works of such masters as Thomas Gainsborough, Anthony van Dyck, Emile Antoine Bourdelle, Frans Hals, Pablo Picasso, Francois Auguste René Rodin, Vincent van Gogh and Edgar Degas. In addition to a collection of world art, the gallery presents the Henry Moore Sculpture Center, which contains the most extensive collection of works by this British sculptor.

If you go further north along University Avenue, you can get to Queen’s Park, in the center of which stands the building of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, built in the Victorian style. At the end of University Avenue near the northern boundary of Queen’s Park is the Royal Ontario Museum. This is the largest museum in Canada.. It was opened in 1857 and today occupies about 40 galleries and contains about 6 million exhibits. The exhibition halls of the Royal Ontario Museum fall into two main categories: natural history and world culture. The most popular galleries of the first category are the Birds Gallery, which displays several hundred species of birds, the Bats Gallery, which is a reconstruction of the Jamaican cave of St. Clair, the Reptile Gallery and the Dinosaur and Ancient Mammals Gallery with a significant collection of dinosaur skeletons. The most interesting galleries of world culture are the Gallery of Ancient Egypt, which contains about 300 artifacts from 2200 – 30 BC, the Chinese Gallery, in four sections of which samples of temple paintings, wooden sculpture and Chinese architecture are presented, the African Gallery, the Gallery of Ancient Greece with one of the most complete collections of antiques in the world coins, Gallery of Canada, which tells about the culture and life of the indigenous peoples of the country, as well as the Japanese and Korean galleries. Opposite the Royal Ontario Museum is the Gardiner Museum – the only museum in Canada. devoted entirely to ceramics. It was founded in 1984. The museum’s collections include about 2,900 items, including ancient American art, Italian Renaissance ceramics, and English, Japanese, and Chinese porcelain. Toronto also has the longest street in the world – Young Street, listed in the Guinness Book of Records. It starts from the waterfront of Lake Ontario, runs through the entire city parallel to Bay Street and ends at the borders of the city of Cochrane. Young Street is 1896 km long. This is Toronto ‘s busiest street, lined with countless shops, restaurants, cafes, clubs and bars. One of the largest shopping centers in Young Street is the Eaton Center. At the very beginning of Young Street is Palace of Hockey Glory, which houses the Hockey Museum, which tells about the world history of this sport.

Going for a walk along Young Street, be sure to visit the Yorkville entertainment district, which is located on the northern border of Downtown. Most of the shopping and financial centers of Downtown Toronto are connected to the vast underground shopping district PATH. PATH is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest underground shopping center in the world. Its area is 371.6 thousand square meters. m. This is a whole underground city, where the lower floors of city skyscrapers extend. There are even small parks and fountains. All PATH structures are connected to each other and to the subway by passages.

Toronto (Canada)