Citadelle of Quebec

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

View of the fortifications of the Citadel, with the Parliament Building behind

The Citadelle - the French name is used both in English and French - is a military installation and official residence located atop Cap Diamant, adjoining the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. This citadel is part of the fortifications of Quebec City, the only city with extant city walls in North America.

The Quebec Parliament Building and many other provincial government buildings and several large hotels are also nearby, towering over this sunken or flat citadel, typical of late 18th century and early 19th century castrametation.

The first protective wall (enceinte) was built in the 17th century under Louis de Buade, sieur de Frontenac. A plan of fortifications was developed by the French military engineer Jacques Levasseur de Néré (1662-1723) and approved by Louis XIV's commissary general of fortifications Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban in 1701. Considerable work took place on the fortifications after the fall of Louisbourg in 1745 under the direction of military engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry.

The existing star-shaped fortifications were built by the British between 1820 and 1831 under the direction of Royal Engineer lieutenant colonel Elias Walker Durnford and incorporated a section of the French "enceinte" of 1745. Their purpose was to secure the strategic heights of Cape Diamond against the Americans and to serve as a refuge for the British garrison in the event of attack or rebellion. The preservation of much of the fortifications and defences of Quebec is due to the intervention of Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, Governor General of Canada 1872–1878, who also established the Citadelle as a vice-regal residence.

The Quebec Conferences of 1943 and 1944, in which Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King discussed strategy for World War II, were held at the Citadelle of Quebec.

The Citadelle is the home station of the Royal 22^e Régiment of the Canadian Forces. In addition to its use as a military installation, it is also an official residence of the Governor General of Canada, who by tradition resides there for several weeks out of the year. (The Governor General's primary official residence is Rideau Hall in Ottawa.)

See also: List of forts