Explore Quebec City

The Parliament Building is the seat of the National Assembly of Quebec, built in the Second Empire style from 1877 to 1886 to plans by Eugène-Étienne Taché, just outside the walls of Old Quebec. Its façade carries statues of figures from Quebec's history; visitors enter through the reception pavilion for self-guided or guided tours, exhibitions and the parliamentary library.

Notre-Dame de Québec is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Quebec on Rue De Buade in Old Quebec, seat of the oldest diocese in North America north of Mexico. In 1874 it became the first church on the continent raised to minor basilica, and its crypt holds four governors of New France and the bishops of Quebec, among them François de Laval.

The Citadelle of Quebec is a star-shaped fortress on Cap Diamant, built by the British from 1820 to 1850 to defend Quebec City. It is still an active military base, home of the Royal 22e Régiment and a residence of the Governor General, so the fortress is seen on a 60-minute guided tour; the regiment's museum in the East Casemate is visited on your own.

The Musée de la civilisation is a museum of human societies and history in the Lower Town of Old Quebec, near the St. Lawrence. Designed by Moshe Safdie and opened in 1988, its building incorporates the older Maison Estèbe and Banque de Paris; its collection of over 225,000 objects feeds permanent and temporary exhibitions on Quebec and the wider world.

The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is the art museum of the province of Quebec, opened in 1933 in the Battlefields Park in Quebec City. Its four buildings, one of them a former 19th-century prison, hold more than 40,000 works from the 16th century to today, most of them made in Quebec or by Quebec artists.