A Wink at ... A bit of history behind Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City

The town of Quebec is the capital of the Canadian Province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-National region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal. As of the 2006 Canadian Census, the city has a population of 491,142, and the metropolitan area has a population of 715,515. The city celebrated its 400^th birthday in 2008.

The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) are the only remaining fortified city walls that still exist in the Americas north of Mexico, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the 'Historic District of Old Québec’.
Source : Wikipedia

Now that the introduction to the city is done let’s see what the history of the castle is.Chateau Frontenac (Frontenac Castle), it is a beautiful building on top of Cape Diamond that stands above the St. Lawrence River. It holds the Guiness world record for being the most photographed hotel in the world, due to its location. It can be seen from everywhere into Old Quebec from all angles and the view from the river is just awesome.

    

Let me start at the beginning of the story, because Chateau Frontenac is actually the third building to be built on that site. The first ‘chateau’ was built in 1648 and by 1680 it was demolished (because of the state it was in) to leave place for the second ‘chateau’ (Chateau St-Louis) in 1694. That second building was greatly damaged during the siege of Quebec, which began in 1759, but was rebuilt over the next forty years. In 1834 the Chateau St-Louis was destroyed by fire. The first two chateaus did not actually look like the castle that now overlooks the city.

Chateau t-Louis (Source : Wikipedia)

The ‘Chateau Frontenac’ opened in 1893, but the central tower of 17 stories was not built until 1924 and the last wings were added in 1993. It was named in honor of Louis de Buade de Frontenac, governor of New-France at the end of the 17^th century. It was build by American architect Bruce Price for the Canadian Pacific Railways, has a way to attract wealthy tourists. It is now part of the renowned Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

Original Castle ‘Around 1910’ (Source : Wikipedia)

For more pictures of Chateau Frontenac and Quebec city (Click image)

There are a lot of other great historic facts about the city of Quebec, which I will surely add to these historical winks. One great example is the citadel and the fortifications surrounding old Quebec.