The now-demolished Hope Gate is shown here in a lithograph from Hawkins’s Picture of Quebec. The artist provides an interesting shared perspective of De la Canoterie Street, showing the watchtower and part of Upper Town, and the chimneys of the working-class neighbourhoods on the edge of Lower Town.

1829 - 1834

The rampart gates of Québec City in the early 19th century

Building began on Québec City’s fortifications in 1690 under the French Regime. The French sought to surround the town with ramparts to protect it from the British. The British indeed invaded Québec City in 1759. They too recognized the fortifications’ strategic value and subsequently rebuilt them. By the 19th century, Québec City residents were well accustomed to living with this military inheritance. The rampart gates were simply a part of their daily surroundings. Explore the works reflecting this period!

Hope Gate

Robert Auchmuty Sproule, after Alexander Jamieson Russell The now-demolished Hope Gate is shown here in a lithograph from Hawkins’s Picture of Quebec. The artist provides an interesting shared perspective of De la Canoterie Street, showing the watchtower and part of Upper Town, and the chimneys of the working-class neighbourhoods on the edge of Lower Town.

Chronoscope What does Sproule’s piece remind you of? (unilingual French for a limited time)

Depicted period: 1834

Source: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec Document in the public domain (free of copyright) - Date: 1834

OPEN