Church sights in Québec City
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Basilique Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré
The village of Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré is known for the Goliath-sized Basilique Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré and its role as a shrine. Churches were built at this location since the mid-1600s but were frequently destroyed by fire. The awe-inspiring basilica of today was constructed after a devastating blaze in 1922 and has been open since 1934.
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Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
Built from 1800 to 1804, this cathedral was designed by two officers from the British army’s military engineering corps and modeled on St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, England. This elegantly handsome Anglican cathedral was the first ever built outside the British Isles, with oak imported from Windsor Castle’s Royal Forest just to make the pews. Upon its completion, King George III sent the cathedral a treasure trove of objects, including candlesticks, chalices and silver trays. The elaborateness of the gifts heading toward the New World sent London’s chattering classes atwitter. The royal box for the reigning monarch or her representative is located in the upper…
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Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Québec
This basilica got its start as a small church in 1647. In the ensuing years, the churches built here suffered everything from frequent fires to battle damage, especially during fighting between British and French armies in 1759. But no matter what, the church was rebuilt and repaired. Each replacement was bigger than the last until it reached the size you see today – a structure completed in 1925. The interior is appropriately grandiose, though most of the basilica’s treasures didn’t survive the 1922 fire that left behind only the walls and foundations. To have a look at the crypt, you’ll have to sign on to a guided tour. Everyone from governors of New France to archbisho…
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Église St-Roch
There are giants and then there is this, the biggest church in Québec City. Measuring over 80m long, 34m wide and 46m high including the steeples, it was built between 1914 and 1923. When the original architects died, the neo-Gothic, neo-Roman structure was finished off by Louis-Napoléon Audet, the same man who worked on the Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré Basilica. The marble inside the church is from Saskatchewan. See if you can find faint fossil imprints in it. Around late October the St-Roch Church hosts the Festival des Musiques Sacrées de Québec (the Québec City Festival of Sacred Music), a wonderful time to see it at its best.
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Église Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
Dating from 1688, Our Lady of Victories Church, a modest house of worship on the square, is the oldest stone church in the USA and Canada. It stands on the spot where Champlain set up his ‘Habitation, ’ a small stockade, 80 years prior to the church’s arrival. Inside are copies of works by Rubens and Van Dyck. Hanging from the ceiling is a replica of a wooden ship, the Brézé, thought to be a good-luck charm for ocean crossings and battles with the Iroquois. The church earned its name after British ships were unable to take Québec City in 1690 and again in 1711.
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Église St-Jean-Baptiste
This colossus completely dominates its area on the southwest end of Rue St-Jean. The first church was built in 1842 but was destroyed by fire in 1881. It was completely rebuilt by architect Joseph-Ferdinand Peachy and open again for business by 1884. Peachy drew on well-known French churches for inspiration: Notre-Dame-de-Paris for the pillars, Église St-Sulpice for the vaults and Église de la Trinité for the facade. In summer, the church presents modest but well-researched exhibitions on church or neighborhood history.
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