Church to be First in Canada

Third Avenue Centre is thrilled to announce that Third Avenue United Church will be the first Canadian building digitally archived in the CyArk world heritage database. This is made possible by a partnership between Stantec, Tourism Saskatoon, CyArk and Third Avenue Centre.

Third Avenue United Church will be among 100 major world historical landmarks already archived by CyArk, an international non-profit organization dedicated to digitally preserving the world’s cultural heritage sites, the most recent addition being the Sydney Opera House. Other CyArk preserved sites include Pompeii, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the RMS Titanic, and Mount Rushmore. CyArk projects the Saskatoon building will receive 100,000 web hits per year from cultural heritage fans around the world.

The inclusion of the Third Avenue United Church building in CyArk’s online archive is an incredible way to showcase the best of Saskatoon architecture and culture to the international community. In addition, it provides a way to preserve an exact 3D digital record of the building for years to come should anything ever happen to the building.

“This is why we support the concept of Third Avenue being owned and operated by a Saskatoon-based not-for-profit organization, namely Third Avenue Centre,” said Todd Brandt, President and CEO of Tourism Saskatoon. “It is vitally important that we secure the future of this building as a landmark performance hall in Saskatoon and as a significant tourist attraction in our community and province.”

CyArk has been featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine and boasts partnerships with prestigious institutions such as the World Monuments Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, U.S. National Park Service, U.S. National Science Foundation, and Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. CyArk is also partnered with educational institutions including Columbia University, Stanford University and the University of Florence, as well as media properties Google, PBS, and Wired magazine.

We are honoured by the support we have received from Stantec and Tourism Saskatoon. We hope to convince the congregation that we are the best bidder in the RFP and we think support like this really helps make our case.