Sights in Québec City
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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
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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…
reviewed
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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…
reviewed
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Onhoüa Chetek8e
This Huron aboriginal reserve is only about 20 minutes west of Québec City (you’ll know you’re there when you start seeing the bilingual Huron/French traffic signs). The major attraction here is the Onhoúa Chetek8e, a reconstructed Huron village (the ‘letter’ 8 in Huron is pronounced ‘oua’ like the ‘wh’ in ‘what’). The guides are excellent (one is even a former land-claims negotiator) and take you round the village explaining Huron history, culture and daily life. It may be artificial, but visitors love this place and children go wild for the tipi, canoes and bow-and-arrow range. Several guides speak English but call ahead to make sure they aren’t already assigned…
reviewed
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Parc des Champs de Bataille
One of Québec City’s must-sees, this verdant, cliff-top park contains the Plains of Abraham. This was the stage for the infamous 1759 battle between British General James Wolfe and French General Montcalm that determined the fate of the North American continent. The park, named for Abraham Martin, a Frenchman who was one of the first farmers to settle in the area, is packed with sites, old cannons, monuments and commemorative plaques. It also has a fine multimedia history museum and several impressive fortification towers (one with a small military museum inside). The park is also a draw for locals, who come for outdoor activities such as running, in-line skating and,…
reviewed
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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
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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…
reviewed
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Hôtel du Parlement
The National Assembly building is a Second Empire structure completed in 1886. It’s home to the Provincial Legislature. Free tours are given in English and French year-round. The 30-minute visits get you into the National Assembly Chamber, the Legislative Council Chamber and the Speakers’ Gallery. The facade of the building is decorated with 23 bronze statues of significant provincial historical figures, including explorer Samuel de Champlain (1570–1635), early New France governor Louis de Buade Frontenac (1622–98) and battle heroes like James Wolfe (1727–59) and Louis-Joseph Montcalm (1712–59), the English and French generals who met, fought and received mortal…
reviewed
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Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
Anyone curious about Québec art needs to carve out at least half a day for a visit to this museum, one of the best in the province. There are expert permanent exhibitions that range from art and artists in the early French colonies to Québec’s abstract artists. There are also individual halls devoted entirely to the province’s artistic giants of the last century. The do-not-miss permanent exhibitions include one devoted to Jean-Paul Lemieux (1904–90) and another to Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923–2002), which includes L’hommage à Rosa Luxemburg (Tribute to Rosa Luxemburg; 1986), his largest work. The Brousseau Inuit Art Collection of 2639 pieces spanning 50 years…
reviewed
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La Citadelle
This massive, star-shaped fort towers above the St Lawrence River on Cap Diamant. French forces started construction here in the late 1750s leaving a gunpowder building and a redoubt, the beginnings of a defensive structure. But the Citadelle we know today was actually built by the British, who feared two things: an American invasion of the colony and a possible revolt by the local French-speaking population (that’s why the cannons point not only at the river, but at Québec City itself). However, by the time the Citadelle was completed (construction began in 1820 and was finished about 30 years later) things were calming down. Twenty years later, in 1871, the Treaty of…
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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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
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Artillery Park
The French chose this location for their army barracks because of its strategic view of the plateau west of the city and the St Charles River, both of which could feed enemy soldiers into Québec City. English soldiers moved in after the British conquest of New France. The English soldiers left in 1871 and it was changed into an ammunition factory for the Canadian army. The factory operated until 1964 and thousands of Canadians worked there during the World Wars. Now you can visit the Officers’ Quarters and the Dauphine Redoubt where guides greet you in character (ie the garrison’s cook) and give you the scoop on life in the barracks. There’s also a huge model of Québec…
reviewed