A piece of art is expected to be unveiled in the Plateau next week, four decades after its predecessor was torn down.
A reclining cross had once been part of an outdoor exhibit on Sherbrooke Street, but residents say it was taken down along with over a dozen other works of art prior to the start of the 1976 summer Olympic games.
Then-mayor Jean Drapeau called the artworks "indecent", and prompted artists to accuse Drapeau of censorship, accusations which are also being directed at Montreal's current mayor Denis Coderre.
Independent curator Nicolas Mavrikakis tells CTV he along with other curators and Plateau borough officials spent two years arranging for a replica of the cross to be established. He says the Coderre administration suddenly withdrew a ten thousand dollar subsidy. Curators were told the money was withheld because the project "lacked social acceptability".
The city has since offered to free up the money, but Plateau officials say they will instead set up a crowd funding website to pay for the cross.