Parliament Building - Je Me Souviens

Parliament Building - Je Me Souviens

Photo: Marc-Lautenbacher, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Old Quebec City Walking Tour, a free self-guided tour.

This grand stone palace is home to the National Assembly of Quebec. Architect Eugene-Etienne Tache designed it in the Second Empire style, borrowed from Paris, and it went up between 1877 and 1886.

Look at the facade: its niches hold bronze statues of people who shaped Quebec, from explorers and missionaries to soldiers and politicians. Sculptor Louis-Philippe Hebert led the work with several other artists.

Above the main door, under the provincial coat of arms, Tache carved the phrase Je me souviens, meaning I remember, in 1883. It became Quebec's official motto in 1939 and now appears on every Quebec licence plate. What exactly it asks you to remember has been debated ever since.

In front, across the roundabout, stands the Fontaine de Tourny, an ornate cast-iron fountain made in France in the 1850s and given to the city in 2007.

Getting here: Leave the park by Avenue George-VI or Avenue Wilfrid-Laurier and walk north to the Parliament lawn on Grande Allee.

Did you know?: The Assembly first met here in March 1884, two years before the building was finished.

Photo op: Stand by the Fontaine de Tourny and frame its jets in front of the Parliament's central clock tower.

More on Wikipedia: Parliament Building · National Assembly of Quebec · Je me souviens · Louis-Philippe Hebert

Stops on this tour

  1. Dufferin Terrace - A Boardwalk on the Cliff
  2. Rue du Tresor - The Artists' Alley
  3. Notre-Dame de Quebec - Mother Church of New France
  4. Seminaire de Quebec - Where a University Began
  5. Breakneck Stairs - The Steep Way Down
  6. Place Royale - Where Quebec Began
  7. Quartier Petit Champlain - Shops Beneath the Cliff
  8. Old Quebec Funicular - The Easy Way Up
  9. Governors' Garden - One Monument, Two Generals
  10. The Citadelle - Star Fort on Cap Diamant
  11. Plains of Abraham - Thirty Minutes That Changed a Continent
  12. Parliament Building - Je Me Souviens
  13. Porte Saint-Louis - Gateway Through the Walls