Guard mounting, changing the guard, or the changing of the guard, is a formal ceremony in which sentries performing ceremonial guard duties at important institutions are relieved by a new batch of sentries. The ceremonies are often elaborate and precisely choreographed. They originated with peacetime and battlefield military drills introduced to enhance unit cohesion and effectiveness in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Guard mounting by country
Argentina Guard mounting ceremonies are held on Saturdays by the grounds of the Plaza de Mayo fronting the Casa Rosada by the Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers. Beginning in May 2024 - with the first edition also serving as the opening salvo to a month of celebrations of the 1810 May Revolution, a larger public ceremony is held there every first Saturday of the month by platoons of this regiment, the Regiment of Patricians and the 1st Artillery Regiment.
Armenia Since September 2018, the President's Residence in Yerevan has had ceremonial sentries from the Honour Guard Battalion of the Ministry of Defense perform public duties at a pair of sentry boxes at the front of the residence. They are posted and relieved in a brief guard mounting ceremony, which includes an exhibition drill of all five guards (the incoming guards, the outgoing guards, and the guard commander). The guard mounting ceremony is held every Saturday and Sunday in the afternoon and evening.
Barbados In Barbados, the Changing of the Sentry is an event that takes place in front of the 1804 Main Guard or Clock Tower. The guardsmen from the Barbados Defence Force are known today as The Main Guard. The sentries are drawn from members of the Barbados Legion, other retired personnel, and the Barbados Regiment. During the ceremony, a Corps of Drums from the Barbados Defence Force Band provide musical accompaniment. It is performed every Thursday morning.
Belarus
In Minsk, Post #1 at Victory Square is the area where guard duty is carried out by members of the armed forces, including soldiers of the Honor Guard of the Armed Forces and cadets of the Military Academy of Belarus. Other organizations that also support guard duties at the square includes members of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union, the Border Guard Service Institute of Belarus, and students of general education schools and vocational schools of the city of Minsk. Post #1 was initiated on 3 July 1984, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the liberation of Minsk.
It consists of 26 students (17 boys and 9 girls) organized in the following way: the head of the guard of honor, the assistant to the head of the guard of honor, 4 guards (boys), 8 boys in the first four-shift, 8 girls, 1-3 boys sentries at the banner, on-duty signalman (girl). The guard of honor served at Post No. 1 for one week from 9.00 to 17.00 in the cold and from 9.00 to 18.00 in the warm time of the day. The duration of each shift is 10 to 20 minutes. The only breaks in maintaining the honorary were from 15 May to 1 November 1988, from 1 June to 20 November 2003, and from 1 December 2003 to 20 April 2004.
Bulgaria
The ceremony of the changing of the guard of honour in front of the presidency has taken place at 12:00 noon every day since November 5, 2003. It also takes place at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Sofia. The National Guards Unit of Bulgaria is the sole participant in this ceremony.
Canada
Public duties in Ottawa, Canada's national capital, is formally the responsibility of two regiments of foot guards, the Canadian Grenadier Guards, and the Governor General's Foot Guards; with one of their main tasks being the provision of sentries for guard mountings for official state functions in support of the Government of Canada in Ottawa.
The Canadian Army also operates a summer public duties detachment known as the Ceremonial Guard, which assumes public duties in Ottawa from late-June to late-August. The Ceremonial Guard is made up of regulars or reservists of the Canadian Army, although its membership is also augmented by regulars and reservists of the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Navy. The Ceremonial Guard mount the guard at the National War Memorial, Rideau Hall, and Parliament Hill. Members of the Ceremonial Guard wear the uniforms of the Canadian foot guards, as they have historically staffed the summer public duties detachment, before membership in the Ceremonial Guard was opened to the entire Canadian Armed Forces. The Ceremonial Guard are considered an ad hoc detachment, as its members are drawn from various units of the armed forces, and does not constitute a permanent unit in the Canadian Forces' order of battle.
The Canadian Armed Forces also maintains a National Sentry Program, where its members perform guard mountings for its sentries at the National War Memorial from early-April to 10 November, the day before Remembrance Day. The program formally falls under the command structure of the Ceremonial Guard, although its volunteers may wear the full dress uniform of their respective units/service.
Guard mountings are also carried out at the Citadelle of Quebec in Quebec City, a military installation, and secondary residence of the Monarch and Governor General. The Royal 22nd Regiment mounts the guard at the Citadelle from late-June to Labour Day (the first Monday of September). The regiment has carried out guard mountings at the Citadelle since 1928, excluding a brief hiatus from 1939 to 1945, due to the Second World War. Guard mountings have also been performed in other Canadian cities outside Ottawa and Quebec City, with guard mountings having been performed at various provincial capitals, typically at the legislature, or the official residences of the lieutenant governors. However, public duties in Ottawa and Quebec are the only regularly scheduled guard mountings in the country.
Several non-military organizations also perform reenactments of past and historical guard mountings ceremonies at Officer’s Square Fredericton, New Brunswick (suspended since 2024), and at Citadel Hill in Halifax.
Chile
The changing of the guard ceremony is conducted every odd-numbered day, including Sundays, at La Moneda Palace in Santiago, Chile with the Carabineros de Chile's Presidential Guard Group providing the guard, the changing of the guard has been taking place since 1851. A pair of mounted units lead the Central Band, Drums and Bugles of the Carabineros and the new guard, to the plaza in front of La Moneda where the departing detachment meets them. While patriotic and popular music is played, the colour guard emerges and salutes are exchanged between the old and new guards at the main gate and by the officers of each unit. The ceremony ends with the band, drums and bugles marching off with the old guard.
The ceremony is an important tourist attraction that takes place in the Plaza de la Constitución on alternate days at 10 a.m. However, when there are events in the Plaza de la Constitución, the ceremony is moved to the south façade of the Palacio de la Moneda to the Plaza de la Ciudadanía.
China The changing of the guard in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, may refer to three different ceremonies of the People's Liberation Army on Tiananmen Square. The first is a traditional changing of the guard consisting of two incoming soldiers, two outgoing soldiers and a commander from the People's Armed Police Honour Guard Battalion, with the incoming and outgoing soldiers saluting the flagpole before taking up their posts beside it. The other changing of the guard is the raising of the Flag of China on the square every morning, which since 2018, consists of personnel from the Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion who took over duties from the PAP, which itself had performed the ceremony since 1982 until that point.
Another changing of the guard ceremony takes place at the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, which contains the preserved body of Mao Zedong, at the southern end of Tianamen Square, right exactly where the Gate of China once stood. The Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion also performs this ceremony.
At Xinhuamen the ceremonial changing of guards is performed by the Central Guard Regiment. Two members of the Central Guard Regiment ceremonial personnel, armed with ceremonial rifles, guarding the gate. The ceremony occurs every 2 hours.
Cuba
Soldiers of the Ceremonial Unit of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces guard the Mausoleum of José Marti in Santiago de Cuba. The guard is changed every half-hour, and is signaled by clock tower bells similar to how Soviet guards at the Lenin mausoleum used the bells of the Spasskaya Tower Clock. Patriotic music is played while the next batch of guards march to relive the previous detachment. The music is usually played from audio speakers located around the mausoleum instead of by a live band.
Czech Republic Every day at noon the guard of Prague Castle (seat of the President of the Czech Republic) is changed. The Prague Castle Guard is the unit that provides the sentries for the ceremony.
Denmark
At Amalienborg Palace, the royal residence in Copenhagen, the Royal Guard, mounted by the Kongelige Livgarde, is on duty for 24 hours, and the relief takes place every day at noon. The parade starts off from the barracks by Rosenborg Castle. There are three types of guard changes. A kongevagt (King's Watch) is when the monarch is in residence, and is accompanied by the Royal Guards music band. A løjtnantsvagt (Lieutenant Watch) is when Prince Henrik was residing at the palace or Crown Prince Frederik or Prince Joachim are residing at Amalienborg in the capacity of regents. The Løjtnantsvagt is accompanied by the Corps of Drums of the Royal Life Guards. A palævagt''' (Manor Watch) is when the Crown Prince or Prince Joachim are in residence but not in the capacity of regents or the Palace is uninhabited. A palævagt march through Copenhagen is undertaken without music accompaniment.
Ghana The changing of the guard at Jubilee House (formerly Flagstaff House) takes place every month, with personnel of the different branches of the Ghana Armed Forces taking part quarterly (every 3 months). The ceremony started on May 5, 2013, originating from the changing of the Queens Guard at Buckingham Palace in London. Differences in the two ceremonies include a drill demonstration by the new and old guards, as well as the attendance of the Ghanaian president at the ceremony.
Greece
In the state capital, Athens, members of the Presidential Guard provide a 24-hour honour guard, with an hourly guard change, at the Presidential Mansion and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, off Syntagma Square at the foot of the Hellenic Parliament. The Changing the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in particular, has become a tourist attraction, with many people watching the guards, who stand motionless for two 20-minute intervals during their 1-hour shifts.
Every Sunday at 11:00 a ceremonial change of guards takes place. A parade of Evzones and a military band starts from the barracks of the Evzones (just behind the Parliament Building) and through Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, and reaches the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where a ceremonial change of guards takes place. On this occasion, all the three official uniforms of the Evzones can be seen. Vasilissis Sofias Avenue and Amalias Avenue are briefly closed to traffic for the ceremony from about 10:55 to 11:05 on Sunday mornings.
Hungary