Porte Saint-Louis - Gateway Through the Walls
Photo: DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
A stop on Old Quebec City Walking Tour, a free self-guided tour.
You're at one of the four surviving gates in the walls that make Quebec the only fortified colonial city north of Mexico still enclosed by its ramparts. The walls run about 4.6 km around the western end of Upper Town.
The French built the first walls in 1690 and moved them further west in 1745. The British, who held the city after 1759, strengthened them in the 1820s and 1830s. Once the British garrison left in 1871, many locals saw the walls as an obstacle to traffic and wanted them torn down. Governor General Lord Dufferin stepped in and argued for keeping them, and this gate, rebuilt in 1878 in a romantic medieval style, is part of the result.
Climb the steps beside the gate to walk along the top of the ramparts, then follow Rue Saint-Louis back down to Dufferin Terrace, where the tour began.
Getting here: From the Parliament, cross Grande Allee and walk east to the stone gate where the road enters the walled city.
Did you know?: The fortifications became a National Historic Site in 1948, and the whole walled district joined the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1985.
Photo op: Stand outside the walls on Grande Allee and frame the gate's turrets with Rue Saint-Louis running into Old Quebec behind them.
More on Wikipedia: Ramparts of Quebec City · Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava
Stops on this tour
- Dufferin Terrace - A Boardwalk on the Cliff
- Rue du Tresor - The Artists' Alley
- Notre-Dame de Quebec - Mother Church of New France
- Seminaire de Quebec - Where a University Began
- Breakneck Stairs - The Steep Way Down
- Place Royale - Where Quebec Began
- Quartier Petit Champlain - Shops Beneath the Cliff
- Old Quebec Funicular - The Easy Way Up
- Governors' Garden - One Monument, Two Generals
- The Citadelle - Star Fort on Cap Diamant
- Plains of Abraham - Thirty Minutes That Changed a Continent
- Parliament Building - Je Me Souviens
- Porte Saint-Louis - Gateway Through the Walls