Stock photo: Grand Staircase American Bison Statues Legislative Building City of Winnipeg Manitoba

Stock photo of the grand staircase of the Legislative Building flanked on each side by life sized bronze statues of two North American Bison, City of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

This stock photo includes The Grand Staircase of the Legislative Building in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The stair case is composed of three flights of steps each with 13 steps. The steps are brown-veined Carrara marble, the finest marble in the world. Flanking the steps are life size North American bison. Made of solid bronze, they were modeled by Georges Gardet, creator of the Golden Boy, and cast at the Roman Bronze Works in New York City. Each bison weighs 2,268 kilograms (2½ tons). Legend has it that to install the bison safely without damaging the marble floors, the main entrance was flooded and left to freeze. Both bison were then placed on enormous slabs of ice cut from the Assiniboine River, and safely slid into the building.