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City Guide  - Quebec City  - Further Distractions
Further Distractions

Observatoire de la Capitale

The best view of the city itself is from the Capital Observatory, 31 floors above the Hôtel du Parlement. Information panels give a good recap of Quebec City's history, linking events to the buildings spread out below. From here, the plan of the defensive fortifications stands out, as does the layout of the Citadel. Across the St Lawrence River it is easy to pick out where General Wolfe amassed his troops prior to the attack on the city.

Marie-Guyart Building, 31st Floor, 1037 rue de la Chevrotière
Tel: (418) 644 9841 or (888) 497 4322. Fax: (418) 644 2879.
Web site: www.observatoirecapitale.org
Transport: Bus 11, 25, 800 or 801.
Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700 (summer); Tues-Sun 1000-1700 (winter).
Admission: C$4 (concessions available).

Musée d'Art INUIT Brousseau

One of the city's newest museums, this former collection of the Brousseau family (who own the gallery next door) is a small but thoughtfully chosen collection of Inuit art predominantly from the last half-century. Exhibits show the development from the naïve sculpture of the 1950s to the very individual works of contemporary artists working in whalebone or caribou antlers, as well as soapstone. Other displays show how the choice of material as well as the subject matter reflects the great regional diversity of Canada's northern peoples.

39 rue St-Louis
Tel: (418) 694 1828. Fax: (418) 694 2086.
E-mail: artinuit@globetrotter.net
Transport: Bus 3 or 11.
Opening hours: Daily 0930-1730.
Admission: C$6 (concessions available).

Musée de l'Amérique française

The Museum of French America comprises three separate buildings within the grounds of the vast Séminaire de Québec, the Catholic institution for religious and educational instruction. The museum details the history of the seminary and showcases a tiny part of the seminary's vast collections of objects from the natural sciences and other disciplines. The museum also includes the former chapel, where daytime concerts are given in the summer. For American visitors, the highlight is the exhibition on the dispersal of their ancestors from New France throughout the USA; panels illustrate the paths of migration and there are genealogical tables available for family-tree researchers.

2 Côte de la Fabrique
Tel: (418) 692 2843. Fax: (418) 692 5206.
Web site: www.mcq.org
Transport: Bus 3, 7, 11, 800 or 801 to Place D'Youville.
Opening hours: Daily 0930-1700 (summer); Tues-Sun 1000-1700 (winter).
Admission: C$4 (concessions available); free on Tues in winter.

Musée des Ursulines de Québec

Marie Guyart de l'Incarnation arrived in Quebec City in 1639 along with two other Ursuline nuns to found the first Ursuline monastery and girls school in North America. Although most of the monastery is off limits, visits to the chapel with its early eighteenth-century decor, the Centre Marie-de-l'Incarnation information centre and the museum itself are possible. The museum includes artefacts from the settlers' early days as well as religious paintings and other artworks.

12 rue Donnacona
Tel: (418) 694 0694. Fax: (418) 694 2136.
E-mail: murq@globetrotter.net
Web site: www.museocapitale.qc.ca/014a.htm
Transport: Bus 3, 7, 11, 800 or 801 to Place D'Youville.
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1000-1200 and 1300-1700, Sun 1300-1700 (summer); Tues-Sun 1300-1630 (winter).
Admission: C$4 (concessions available).



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