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Place Royale Review

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Place Royale

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Category: Squares
Location: Lower Town

Write a review | Avg. member rating: 4.8/5

Fodor's Review:

Once the homes of wealthy merchants, houses with steep Normandy-style roofs, dormer windows, and chimneys encircle this cobblestone square. Until 1686 the area was called Place du Marché, but its name changed when a bust of Louis XIV was placed at its center. During the late 1600s and early 1700s, when Place Royale was continually under threat of British attack, the colonists moved progressively higher to safer quarters atop the cliff in Upper Town. After the French colony fell to British rule in 1759, Place Royale flourished again with shipbuilding, logging, fishing, and fur trading. The Fresque des Québecois, a 4,665-square-foot trompe-l'oeil mural depicting 400 years of Québec's history, is to the east of the square, at the corner of rue Notre-Dame and côte de la Montagne. An information center, the Centre d'Interprétation de Place Royale (27 rue Notre-Dame, Lower Town. 418/646-3167) includes exhibits and a Discovery Hall with a replica of a 19th-century home, where children can try on period costumes. A clever multimedia presentation, good for kids, offers a brief history of Québec. Admission is C$4, but it's free on Tuesday from November to May. It's open daily 9:30-5 from June 24 to early September; the rest of the year it's open Tuesday-Sunday 10-5.

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Member Reviews and Ratings

Reviewed by mvamor from Boston on 8/18/09
If you're lucky, there will be a wedding going on while you're there. Don't miss the huge mural - La Fresque Des Quebecois Wall Mural - right off the Place Royale.