Square's gone, but Moore bronzes live on

About two years ago, burglars busted into the Henry Moore Foundation north of London and stole the 1969-70 work A Reclining Figure. Police believed the bandits just wanted to melt the sculpture for its scrap value of about $10,000.

Chump change: the thing was worth more than $6 million.

Turns out, Montreal is also home to a multimillion-dollar Reclining Figure by Moore, but so far it remains safe and sound. 
   This three-piece abstract work was installed in the front yard of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce building after the 45-storey HQ was completed in 1962.

There it is, soaking up the ozone-softened June 1971 sun at the corner of Peel and Dorchester. 
   If the location looks unrecognizable, that's because the square was glassed in -- complete with sculpture -- by the building's owners back in the late 1980s.

In '89, the usual critics (i.e., Jean-Claide Marsan of the U. of M. and Dinu Bumbaru, prez of Save Montreal) came out both against glassing in the square and moving the sculpture indoors. But a flack working for the building owners insisted that the indoor site would protect the sculpture from acid rain. We guess it's safer from melt-it-down burglars, too.