4 Best Sights in Quebec City, Quebec

Step into history at Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, North America's oldest stone church. This beautiful sanctuary on Place Royale, with its fortress-shaped altar, stands as a testament to a turbulent past. Built in 1688 and meticulously restored, it honors the Virgin Mary for aiding French forces against British invasions in 1690 and 1711. Inside, discover interesting paintings and a model of Le Brezé, the ship that brought French soldiers in 1664. Its side chapel is dedicated to Sainte Genevieve, Paris's patron saint.

François de Laval, the first bishop of New France and founder of Canada's Catholic Church, once ruled a diocese that stretched to the Gulf of Mexico. Videos and pictures astutely illustrate his life throughout the visit.

Laval's original cathedral burned down and has been rebuilt several times, but the current basilica still has a chancel lamp that was a gift from Louis XIV, the Sun King. The church's interior includes a canopy dais over the Episcopal throne, a ceiling of painted clouds decorated with gold leaf, and richly colored stained-glass windows. A "holy door" was added to the church in 2014. The large crypt was Québec City's first cemetery; more than 900 bodies are interred here, including, perhaps, Samuel de Champlain's; archaeologists have been searching for his tomb since 1950. Guided tours of the cathedral and crypt are available (by appointment only).

The first Anglican cathedral outside the British Isles was erected in the heart of Québec City's Upper Town between 1800 and 1804. Its simple, dignified façade is reminiscent of London's St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the pediment, archway, and Ionic pilasters introduced Palladian architecture to Canada. The land on which the cathedral was built was originally given to the Récollets (Franciscan monks from France) in 1681 by the king of France for a church and monastery. When Québec came under British rule, the Récollets made the church available to the Anglicans for services. Later, King George III ordered construction of the present cathedral, with an area set aside for members of the royal family. A portion of the north balcony is still reserved for the use of the reigning sovereign or his or her representative. The cathedral's impressive rear organ has 3,058 pipes. Even more impressive is the smaller English chamber organ, built in 1790, which was donated to the cathedral for the bicentennial celebrations in 2004.

Founded in 1639, the Ursuline Chapel and its Couvent des Ursulines stand as North America's oldest institution of learning for women. Step inside to discover some of the finest wood carving in all of Québec, painstakingly gilded by the nuns themselves. Though the exterior was rebuilt in 1902, the interior reveals the original chapel, a masterpiece that took sculptor Pierre-Noël Levasseur a decade (1726-1736) to complete.