Historic District of Old Québec In Canada

Historic District of Old Québec In Canada

Short Report

Quebec was founded by the French discoverer Champlain in the early 17th century. It is the only North American city to retain the ramparts, together with the many bastions, gates and defensive works which still Old Quebec. The upper town, built on the rock, remained the religious and administrative center, with its churches, monasteries and other monuments such as the Dauphine Redoubt, the Citadel and Chateau Frontenac. Together with the Lower Town and the old districts, the urban ensemble is one of the best examples of a reinforced colonial city.

Wide Report

Quebec illustrates one of the most important stages in the population and the growth of the American Continent during the modern and contemporary period. When Samuel De Champlain founded Quebec, the capital of New France, in 1608 he chose the natural grounds of a steep plateau overlooking the St Laurent River. The old heart of the city was established on the headland, Cap-aux Diamants, protected by Fort St Louis.

Quebec, which was a fortified city, a center of population and a harbor where ships goods from Europe and responsible for the valuable pelts from the Great North, had a urban organization very early on and such a classification derived from these different functions. The cliff of course divided the city into two districts: the district of business, exchange, and the marine is located in the downtown and the administrative and religious center which was gradually in the upper town. According to the English domination of 1759 to 1867 urban growth remained within the limits of the site, so the city expanded to the west, all the way to the city walls built in 1720 by Gaspard Chaussegros de Léry.

The construction of a citadel in the most south-eastern end of Cap-aux Diamants by the technician Elias Durnford from 1819 to 1831 and the extension of the system of forts around the city the whole circumference were in accordance with the original planning of the city and gave Quebec the current topographical characteristics. The city is an early example of urban conservation of the cultural heritage as a result of the action of Lord Dufferin, those of 1875 and 1880 took a stand against the demolition of the fortifications, which from a strategic standpoint, was useless. He just cut new gateways to the city. From the beginning of the 20th century, so well before being classified as a historical monument in 1957, the fortress walls of Quebec were kept by the Canadian government funds.

The oldest districts are located in the lower town in the vicinity of the Place Royale, which together with the Rue Notre Dame is coated with old 17th- and 18th-century houses. Notre Dame des Victoires Church which was built from 1688 according to Claude Drost the plans and was burned down during the Siege of 1759, was rebuilt during the English domination. In the Upper Town, the monasteries of the Jesuits (1625), the Recolletés (1629) and the Ursulines (1642) he ), together with the Seminary (1663), are not retain their original form. Despite the vicissitudes of the history (the siege of 1759, Large fire in the 18th and 19th century) they have retained a part of the original elements. Of the 700 old civil and religious buildings which, 2% dating back to the 17th century, 9% to the 18th century and 43% for the first half of the 19th century. Simultaneously, the city has its current aspect that strongly influenced by the Baillairgés, a dynasty of architects who for several generations, an interesting interpretation of the neoclassical style.

A coherent urban ensemble, Quebec's historic district, including the citadel, the Upper Town defended by walls with bastions and the downtown with its harbor and old neighborhoods, offers an excellent example of a reinforced colonial city, by far the most complete in North America .

Source:whc/unesco