Seminaire de Quebec - Where a University Began

Seminaire de Quebec - Where a University Began

Photo: Sleekeels, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)

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

Through the gateway beside the basilica lies the Seminaire de Quebec, a cluster of stone wings with steep roofs arranged around quiet courtyards. Bishop Francois de Laval founded it on March 26, 1663, to train priests for New France. A few years later it began taking local boys too, including Indigenous children and the sons of settlers, and that school grew into the Petit Seminaire.

The seminary's teaching earned a royal charter from Queen Victoria in 1852, creating Universite Laval, the first French-language Catholic university in North America. The university later moved to a modern campus in the suburbs, but its school of architecture still works inside the old seminary walls.

The buildings are private, so stay to the public spaces. The Musee de l'Amerique francophone, entered through the seminary's chapel on Cote de la Fabrique, is the easiest way to see more of the complex; check the website for current hours.

Getting here: The seminary sits right beside the basilica; walk a few steps along Cote de la Fabrique to the gateway by the museum.

Did you know?: Laval left the seminary the Beaupre seigneury, a large tract of land northeast of the city, and its income still helps support the institution.

Photo op: Frame the seminary's steep roofline through the stone gateway arch.

More on Wikipedia: Seminaire de Quebec · Universite Laval · Francois de Laval

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