Beautiful statue!!!!It really moves all of us sailors,because it represents our life,even though it's dedicated to immigrants,it also represents that most difficult moment in a sailor's life when you have to leave everything and everybody behind,and go into unknown, trying to provide for your family!!We stood there for some time,both me and my wife,just looking at it,and thinking about our life and were it got us so far...
The Emigrant, is installed on Halifax Seaport district a short distance from Pier 21, where thousands of people first landed in Canada from foreign countries seeking a better life.
The monument depicts a man wearing a suit and fedora hat leaving his home country with a single piece of luggage as he steps off a pier onto the deck of a ship. A bas relief sculpture in the back of the monument has a vignette of a woman carrying a baby and holding the hand of a small child who is waving goodbye. A bell tower in the background is indicative of the old country.
A bronze plaque in front of the monument is inscribed in English, French and Italian:
THE EMIGRANT
The pain of separation he overcame,
with faith and hope his heart aflame...
La souffrance de la separation il a surmontée,
le coeur brûlant de foi d' espérance...
Vinse il dolor della lontananza,
spinto dalla fede e dalla speranza...
Created by Sculptor
ARMANDO BARBON
and donated by his family to the:
HALIFAX PORT AUTHORITY
SEPTEMBER 19, 2013