Gyrophare de Montréal, Rotating beacon at Place Ville Marie, Canada.

The Gyrophare de Montreal is a rotating beacon at the top of Place Ville Marie, a major office tower in the city center. Four powerful light beams sweep across the night sky, making it visible from far distances and recognizable from many locations throughout the region.

The original beacon was installed by the Royal Bank of Canada in 1957 at their headquarters on Saint-Jacques Street and moved to Place Ville Marie in 1962 when the bank relocated there. The transfer established the light as a permanent feature of the city's most recognizable tower.

The beacon is owned by the Royal Bank of Canada, which had it built for its headquarters in 1957. It is switched off exceptionally for Earth Hour, together with Montreal's two other light symbols: the Mount Royal cross and the Hydro-Québec sign. Its beams take 26 seconds to sweep the sky through 360 degrees.

The beacon operates every night from dusk until roughly 1:30 AM and can be seen from numerous locations across the city. For the best view of the rotating beams, watch from a distance where the full sweep of the light becomes clearly visible.

The beacon is switched off exceptionally for Earth Hour, along with Montreal's two other light symbols: the Mount Royal cross and the Hydro-Québec sign. Its bulbs, rated for 1,000 hours, are replaced about every eighteen months, and the motor roughly twice a decade; upkeep costs the bank between $5,000 and $8,000 a year. It also failed on 28 December 2013.