Visiting Place De La Nation Huronne-Wendat, Vieux-Wendake, Quebec City, Quebec: Near a Striking, Spired Church Building
Built in 1722, rebuilt in 1865.
[NB: Among the many notable buildings which are the subject of the hubpages, these may include religious buildings, described as churches, etc.; these descriptions centre on the buildings' architectural and historical interest.]
At Place de la nation huronne-wendat, Vieux-Wendake, a First Nations enclave within Quebec City, Quebec, there are various interesting buildings which face this local community focal point.
Vieux-Wendake was formerly known as Village-des-Hurons. The Huron Nation has been historically associated with a very wide area of North America. While Quebec City's history is popularly characterized to some extent by the sometimes complex relations between Francophone and Anglophone settlers, the abiding presence of the Huron Nation is an even more deep-seated than this aspect. One can see locally bilingual road signs, in French and Huron-Wendat (see photo, below).
Buildings at Vieux-Wendake include Lieu historique national du Canada de l'Arrondissement-Historique-du-Vieux-Wendake / Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Church National Historic Site of Canada. Notable features of this building include the spired frontage facing Place de la nation huronne-wendat. Built in stone in 1722, it was rebuilt in 1865. As well as the spired tower, particularly conspicuous are an arched entrance and a circular window directly above it. Remarkably, the walls of the building executed in fieldstone are half a metre thick (1).
As is so often the case in the history of Quebec, the past influence of the Jesuit Order hovers over the emergence of this historic settlement, which dates from the 17th century. A local museum traces the history of the settlement (2).
For the benefit of American readers who may be unfamiliar with Quebec history, some readers may know that in the novels of W E B Griffin set in Latin America (3) one sometimes sees how, in the subtle interplay of opposing forces among competing, vested interests it is a member of the Jesuit Order who is found to be present and engaged in the decisive shaping of events and in making some pragmatic sense of an apparently intractable collision of opposites — with any settlement that emerges allowing for an at least latent, abiding role for members of the Order. This kind of fictional scenario seems to have been sometimes true historically in relations — centuries back — between French settlers in what became Canada on the one hand and First Nations on the other.
November 11, 2019
Notes
(1) https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=15153 ; (in French) https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_nhs_fra.aspx?id=1931
(2) See also (in French) : http://tourismewendake.ca/activites/activites-culturelles/musee-huron-wendat/
(3) As for example in W. E. Griffin's 'Honor Bound' series, New York: Jove Books, Berkley Publishing Group.
Also worth seeing
Also at Vieux-Wendake is Chute Kabir-Kouba, a striking set of waterfalls on the Saint-Charles River.
Within walking distance of Vieux-Wendake is Loretteville, where the striking Pavillon de Saint-Louis, executed in stone, dates from 1911.
Outstanding historical and cultural sites worth visiting in Quebec City — too many to mention in detail here — include: the Citadelle (Citadel); the 1886 Hôtel du Parlement (Parliament Building), which houses the Assemblée National du Québec (National Assembly of Quebec); Château Frontenac sometimes known as the most photographed hotel in the world, overlooks le Vieux-Québec (Basse-Ville) (Old Quebec - Lower Town) - ; la Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls), a spectacular sight, on a scale which is higher than Ontario's and New York's Niagara Falls; Maison patrimoniale Louis-S.-St.-Laurent (Louis S. St.-Laurent Heritage House); and many others
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How to get there: Air Canada flies to Quebec City (Aéroport international Jean-Lesage de Québec ) from Montreal and Toronto, with wide connections. VIA Rail maintains regular services with Montreal, Toronto and Windsor. A number of car rental companies offer service at Quebec City airport. Please check with the airline or your travel agent for up to date information.
MJFenn is an independent travel writer based in Ontario, Canada.
Other of my hubpages may also be of interest
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Dating from 1911, this solid, stone building, formerly a convent, houses an educational institution known as le Centre Saint-Louis. With evident Neoclassical, stylistic influences, conspicuous features include a prominent broken pediment and a bell t - Visiting the Citadel, Quebec City: Keeping Watch for Centuries Over the St. Lawrence River
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