This national Historic Site has over 250 years of military history.  A Strategic location overlooking both the St. Charles River and the plateau west of the city, Artillery Park served as barracks for French and English troops before becoming the site of Canada first ammunition factory.

 

Cannon on display

 

Gun carriage warehouse

View of the Artillery park to Porte St. Jean

 

Porte St-Jean

From the Artillery Park you can climb up the stairs to Porte St. Jean and continue the walk along the wall.

 

Climbing up the stairs...

 

The tower

 

Fortification walkway

 

The entire 4.6 Km wall surrounding Old Quebec can be walked either on top or on a path next to it, and passes by Quebec City's most significant historic sites.

 

Panoramic view from above looking down at the street

 

Street below

 

This area between Porte St. Jean and Porte Kent (Green roof) is a popular place for People to sit and relax when the weather is nice.

There nobody today as it was raining earlier.

 

Lots of cannons aiming at the city below.

 

Porte Kent-view from the street.

 

Montmorency Park National Historic Site

Montmorency Park has served many different purposes over the years including being a military site and meeting place of the Legislature of the united Province of Canada.

 

 

Taking a short cut to the other side of the park via this small little opening.

 

Small tunnel.

 

On the left is part of the fortification wall and you can see the parliament building in the distance (1st tall building on the left)

Fortifications wall leading to Porte St. Louis (the last gate of the fortifications).

 

Porte St. Louis dates back to at least 1694 was demolished in 1791 because of its poor condition and rebuilt. This gate lasted until 1823 when it was replaced. It was eventually removed altogether in 1871 before being replaced by the present gate in 1880 by Lord Dufferin

 

We are headed toward the parliament building.  This the surrounding ground of the parliament.

 

Park surrounding the Parliament called Les Jardins de L'hotel du Parlement.

Fountain of Tourny located in front of the parliament building was made in France over a century ago.

Mathurin Moreau, a sculptor in the French city of Dijon, designed the fountain in 1853. The Val d’Osne art foundry then cast six copies in cast iron, one of which was displayed at the Paris World’s Fair in 1855. The fountain was awarded a medal of excellence, and the mayor of Bordeaux fell under its spell when visiting the fair. He acquired two copies and had them installed at either end of an avenue known as the Allées de Tourny in the centre of his city. A century later in 1960, both fountains were dismantled to make way for an underground parking lot, then sold by weight. One found a new life in Soulac-sur-Mer in the same region, but the other ended up in pieces at an antiques dealer in Saint-Ouen near Paris.

In the early 2000s, Québec City businessman Peter Simons visited the antique dealer and also fell in love with the fountain. It was, however, in such poor condition when he purchased it that the services of a Parisian specialist in metal sculpture were required to restore it. Some parts had been damaged or lost and had to be remade from scratch. Once the fountain had been completely restored, Peter Simons had it shipped to its new home in Québec City.

The parliament building.

 

Honoré Mercier Sculpture in front of the Parliament building.

Honoré Mercier (October 15, 1840 – October 30, 1894) was a lawyer, journalist and politician in Quebec.

Honore Mercier was Prime Minister of Quebec from 1887 to 1892 and this bronze statue shows him as a tribute. 

Two high-reliefs adorn the monument: a woman holding a flag, a symbol of patriotism, and peasants, who symbolize abundance.

 

 

 

The Parliament building is and eight floor building and home to the Parliament of Quebec composed of the Lieutenant Governor and National Assembly.

 

View of the parliament from the garden.

 

The garden was beautiful and well maintained.

 

 

The building was designed by architec Eugen Etienne Tache and was built from 1877 to 1886.

The building features the Second Empire architecture style that was popular for prestigious buildings both in Europe.  Even though the building's symmetrical layout with a frontal clock tower in the middle is typical of legislative institution of British heritage, the architectural style is beleiver to be unique among parliament building found in other Canadian provincial capitals.

 

 

The facade has 22 statues of major people of the province's history and there are also others on the building's grounds.

 

 

We are now leaving the Parliament building and walking toward porte St. Louis.

 

Next... Streets in Old Quebec