The Manitoba Legislative Buildings located in downtown Winnipeg are made of Manitoba Tyndall stone and said to possess the design of a secret Hermetic Hode (the Manitoba equivalent of da Vinci's Code.) Read the book
The Hermetic Code or take the on-site tour to learn more of the intrigue.
When construction began in 1875 on Winnipeg's original City Hall, the city fathers placed a tin box of dead grasshoppers in the building's cornerstone. The building was torn down in the 1950s and replaced, but the box of bugs was lost in the demolition.
A favorite bear of children around the world, Winnie the Pooh was named after Winnipeg. Captain Harry Colebourn, who bought a bear cub in 1914 in Ontario and took it with him to England, named the little cub for his hometown. Colebourn gave the bear to the London Zoo, where writer A.A. Milne and his son Christopher encountered Winnie—and the rest is literary history.
Winnipeg is the Aboriginal capital of Canada, with 10% of its population declaring themselves indigenous people. It is therefore no wonder that The Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN)—the world's first and only national aboriginal network—is headquartered in Winnipeg.
Winnipeg-born Olympic athlete Clara Hughes was the first Canadian to earn medals in both the summer and winter Olympics, while teammate and fellow Winnipegger Cindy Klassen was the first Canadian to win six Olympic medals. (Both achieved their historic status at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy).
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, granted royal designation in 1953 by young Queen Elizabeth II, was the world's first "royal" ballet company and is Canada's oldest and North America's second-oldest dance company.
Winnipeg's film industry has been booming. Big-name films such as Shall We Dance?, The Assassination of Jesse James, Capote and You Kill Me were all filmed in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District. Also worth a look: local filmmaker Guy Maddin's bio-doc My Winnipeg.
