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A former graveyard is ready to welcome the living again.

After a 16-month, $10-million renovation, Place du Canada in downtown Montreal is expected to reopen in November.

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Fresh sod has replaced threadbare grass, and graceful granite walkways have supplanted cratered asphalt paths. Sixty new benches and new tree-lined promenades on Peel and de la Cathédrale Sts. also greet visitors.

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The square, once a cemetery where tens of thousands of Montrealers were buried until it closed in 1854, opened as a public square in the 1870s.

“In many ways, the square is a gift from the dead to the living,” says Dinu Bumbaru, policy director at Heritage Montreal.

Initially known as Dominion Square, in 1989 the southern part was re-christened Place du Canada and the northern section Dorchester Square.

When it opened, Dominion Square was far from the city’s core — what is now known as Old Montreal. By the 1850s, the city was growing around the square.