Founded in 1608, Québec City was designed as a military defence post for the French colony. Québec City’s military vocation continued for several more decades during the English Regime, which began in 1759. After the War of 1812, British authorities reinforced the city’s defences, earning it the nickname “the Gibraltar of North America.” Québec City’s military role gradually diminished thereafter, but the city retained a military omnipresence. Several artworks of the period bear witness to this.
James Pattison Cockburn
With Cockburn’s brush strokes, the Ursuline Bastion and its compound come to life, testifying to a Québec City thriving within its walls. Particularly popular with the British military, this street features the Saint-Louis curtain wall, a number of cannons and the impressive Congregation of Notre-Dame-de-Québec Church, built between 1818 and 1820. This complex is now part of the Place de l’Assemblée-Nationale.
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