Quartier du Petit Champlain is a small commercial zone in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. It is located in the neighbourhood of

Vieux-Québec–Cap-Blanc–colline Parlementaire Vieux-Québec–Cap-Blanc–Colline Parlementaire is one of the 35 districts of the City of Quebec Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, ...

in the borough of

La Cité-Limoilou La Cité-Limoilou is the central borough of Quebec City, the oldest (in terms of architecture), and the most populous, comprising 21.85% of the city's total population. As an administrative division, it is very new, having only been formed on ...

, near Place Royale and its

Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church Notre-Dame-des-Victoires is a small Roman Catholic stone church on Place Royale in the lower town of Old Quebec City. Construction was started in 1687 on the site of Champlain's habitation and was completed in 1723. The church is one of the oldes ...

. Its main street is the

Rue du Petit-Champlain Rue du Petit-Champlain (English: Little Champlain Street) is a street in the Canadian city of Quebec City, Quebec. It is located in the Petit Champlain commercial district, at the foot of Cap Diamant, and contains many boutique shops. Quartier ...

at the foot of

Cap Diamant Cap Diamant (English: Cape Diamond) is a cape on an edge of the Promontory of Quebec and on which Quebec City is located, formed by the confluence of a bend in the St. Lawrence River to the south and east, and the much smaller Saint-Charles River t ...

. It is claimed that it's the oldest

commercial district A commercial district or commercial zone is any part of a city or town in which the primary land use is Commerce, commercial activities (Retailing, shops, offices, Theater (structure), theaters, restaurants and so on), as opposed to a residential ...

in North America. In French it is referred to as a ''quartier'' (neighbourhood) although it is not an official one recognised by the City. It is named after

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...

, who founded Quebec City in 1608.

Attractions

Rue du Petit-Champlain

Rue du Petit-Champlain is around long, and runs from its convergence with Rue Sous-le-Fort in the north to Boulevard Champlain in the south.

Rue du Petit-Champlain fresco

The

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

painted on the side of the building at 102 rue du Petit-Champlain is a

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

measuring 100m² (900 ft²). It represents the history of the district, the bombardments of 1759, the landslides, and the fires which have occurred in the district.

Breakneck Stairs

The Breakneck Stairs or Breakneck Steps (French: ''Escalier casse-cou''), Quebec City's oldest stairway, were built in 1635. Today they are a popular viewpoint for tourists to view

rue du Petit-Champlain Rue du Petit-Champlain (English: Little Champlain Street) is a street in the Canadian city of Quebec City, Quebec. It is located in the Petit Champlain commercial district, at the foot of Cap Diamant, and contains many boutique shops. Quartier ...

References

External links

Official site
{{Quebec City Shopping districts and streets in Canada Old Quebec