Museum sights in Québec City
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Musée du Fort
Not really a museum at all, the Musée du Fort houses a 30-minute multimedia show on the many attempts over the centuries to take Québec City. It’s all played out on a model/diorama that lights up in the middle of a minitheater. The breathless narration and anemic smoke-puffs that pass for special effects are a bit hokey but it does give a quick, enjoyable, easy-to-grasp audiovisual survey of the city’s battles and history, making a good introduction to it. English-language shows are held on the hour (French-language versions on the half-hour).
reviewed
-
B
Musée des Ursulines
The fascinating story of the Ursuline nuns’ lives and their influence in the 17th and 18th centuries is told in this thoughtful, well-set-out museum. The sisters established the first girls’ school on the continent in 1641, educating both aboriginal and French girls. Marie de l’Incarnation, the founder, was one of the most intriguing figures from the order. Leaving a young son in France after she was widowed, she joined the Ursulines and moved to New France and lived well into old age. She taught herself aboriginal languages and her frequent and eloquent letters to her son back in France are held by historians to be some of the richest and most valuable material available…
reviewed
-
C
Musée de L’amérique Française
On the grounds of the Séminaire de Québec (the Québec Seminary), this excellent museum is purported to be Canada’s oldest. (The Musée Scientifique du Séminaire de Québec opened here in 1806.) The museum that stands here today has brilliantly atmospheric exhibits on life in the seminary during the colonial era as well as religious artifacts and temporary exhibitions on subjects like endangered species. The priests from the Québec Seminary were avid travelers and collectors and there are some magnificent displays of the scientific objects they brought back with them from Europe, such as old Italian astronomical equipment. The exhibits are capped off by a wonderful short f…
reviewed
-
D
Musée de la Civilisation
The Museum of Civilization wows you even before you’ve visited the exhibitions. It is a fascinating mix of modern design that incorporates pre-existing buildings with contemporary architecture. The permanent exhibits, like the one on the cultures of Québec’s Aboriginals and the one titled ‘People of Québec: Then and Now, ’ are unique and well worth seeing. Many of the exhibits include clever interactive elements. The changing shows are also outstanding and this is really the only museum in town that regularly focuses on contemporary issues and culture. This is a big place with lots to see, so you should concentrate on only one or two exhibitions if you’re not planning to …
reviewed
-
E
Discovery Pavilion
the main gateway to Battlefields Park, the Discovery Pavilion houses a museum as well as the excellent Québec City tourist office, Centre Infotouriste. The main draw here is the permanent exhibition entitled Odyssey. In it, you move from theater to theater where the history of the Plains of Abraham are depicted through clever multimedia presentations and generous doses of good humor. There’s a fine exhibit at the end devoted to French and British colonial military with displays depicting the lives of soldiers in the New World. The exhibit on their uniforms, which describes the significance of the designs and colors, is nicely done.
reviewed
-
F
Nunavik Information Centre
Far in Québec’s north, Nunavik (not to be confused with Canada’s third territory, Nunavut) is almost completely inhabited by Inuit. With no trains or roads into Nunavik, even most Quebecers know little about the Inuit culture or this fascinating region. This modest center was opened mainly to promote tourism to the area’s 14 villages, but it’s an interesting place for a short stop just to look at the wall pictures or the small craft displays. It’s an incredibly friendly place and the employees are more than willing to shoot the breeze for the genuinely curious, answering questions on anything from the Inuit language to Inuit culture.
reviewed
-
G
Centre D’interpretation de Place-Royale
This interpretive center touts the area as the cradle of French history. The exhibits focus on the individual people, houses and challenges of setting up on the shores of the St Lawrence River. It goes a bit heavy on the random artifact displays (though pottery shards do have their charm), but also has some worthwhile displays that help illuminate what life was like from the 1600s to the 20th century. Children can dress up in costumes on the bottom floor and tours of the Lower Town are offered by guides in period dress during summer.
reviewed
-
Musée de L’abeille
Northeast of Québec City on Hwy 138 is honey store and bee museum Musée de l’Abeille. It gets good reviews from families (kids for the ‘safari, ’ parents for the honey wine!).
reviewed
-
Éspace Félix-Leclerc
Éspace Félix-Leclerc highlights the works of one of Québec’s most popular singers, whose ancestors were among the original island settlers.
reviewed
-
Parc Maritime de St-Laurent
At Parc Maritime de St-Laurent you can learn about the parish’s ship-building history.
reviewed
Advertisement
