Citadel Hill (Fort George)
Citadel Hill is a hill that is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Four fortifications have been constructed on Citadel Hill since the city was founded by the English in 1749, and were referred to as Fort George—but only the third fort was officially named Fort George. According to General Orders of October 20, 1798, it was named after King George III. The first two and the fourth and current fort, were officially called the Halifax Citadel. The last is a concrete star fort.
Aerial view of Citadel Hill
Built in 1803, the Halifax Town Clock is a major landmark built on the eastern slope of Citadel Hill.
View of Citadel Hill, with its cannons pointed towards Halifax Harbour. Completed in 1856, the fortification was designed also to repel a land-based attack by the United States.
Prisoners of war at the Halifax Citadel ca. 1917 prior to the opening of a permanent prisoner-of-war camp in Amherst
National Historic Sites of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks Canada, a federal agency, manages the National Historic Sites program. As of November 2023, there were 1,005 National Historic Sites, 171 of which are administered by Parks Canada; the remainder are administered or owned by other levels of government or private entities. The sites are located across all ten provinces and three territories, with two sites located in France.
The celebrations of Quebec City's tricentennial in 1908 acted as a catalyst for federal efforts to designate and preserve historic sites.
Prince of Wales Fort in Churchill, Manitoba was one of the first two sites designated in Western Canada.
The initial focus of the program was strictly on commemoration rather than preservation or restoration. The ruins of the Fortress of Louisbourg were designated in 1920, but efforts to restore the fortress did not commence until 1961.
The historic district of Westmount, Quebec was designated in 2011 in recognition of the efforts of local citizens who had worked for decades to protect the district's historic built environment.