Place-Royale map

Place-Royale

Panorama: Place-Royale

Place-Royale

Place-Royale—the birthplace of French America and a thriving hub of commerce and trade in New France—was home to many people long before the first Europeans arrived. In fact, the earliest traces of human activity that were unearthed during digs at the site go back nearly 5,000 years. One of the many fascinating discoveries was a 1,000-year-old Aboriginal burial ground.

The public square became a marketplace under the French regime. It was also the place where criminal executions and corporal punishment were carried out.

The square continued to serve as a public market until the 1880s, when the area began to decline. By 1950, it had become a rather poor, rundown neighbourhood. The business community and Government of Québec gradually realized that the site needed to be protected and so, between 1957 and 1970, the government acquired some fifty of its houses. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs then partially or completely demolished, restored or rebuilt these houses.

In 1967, the Québec government passed a law declaring Place-Royale a site of national historic significance.