Rue du Petit-Champlain (English: Little Champlain Street) is a street in the Canadian city of
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 Government of Canada, 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 ...
. It is located in the
Petit Champlain commercial district
A commercial district or commercial zone is any part of a city or town in which the primary land use is commercial activities ( shops, offices, theaters, restaurants and so on), as opposed to a residential neighbourhood, an industrial zone, or ...
, at the foot of
Cap Diamant, and contains many
boutique shops. Quartier du Petit Champlain is claimed to be the oldest commercial district in
North America. It is named for
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 Fr ...
, who founded Quebec City in 1608.
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. A popular viewing point of the street, the
Breakneck Stairs (or Breakneck Steps), are located at the northern end of the street.
Just beyond the steps is the lower entrance of the
Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec, an electric
cableway
Cable transport is a broad class of transport modes that have cables. They transport passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars. The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or by driv ...
established in 1879. It takes passengers up and down Cap Diamant to and from
Dufferin Terrace, beside the
Château Frontenac. It climbs at a 45-degree angle, covering a total distance of .
Around halfway along the street, on its western side, is Parc Félix-Leclerc.
The western side of the street contains frontages of buildings, in the shadow of Cap Diamant to their rears, whereas the rears of the buildings facing Boulevard Champlain occupy the eastern side.
A
fresco painted on the side of the building at number 102 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 100m
2 (900 ft
2). It represents the history of the district, the bombardments of 1759, the landslides, and the fires which have occurred in the district.
Gallery
File:Rue du Petit-Champlain 07.JPG, The street in winter
File:QuebecFuniculaire.JPG, View from the Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec, looking down on Rue Sous-le-Fort (straight ahead) and Rue du Petit-Champlain to the right
File:Rue du Petit-Champlain 04.jpg, The southern end of the street, at its junction with Boulevard Champlain, with the Château Frontenac above
File:Vieux Quebec.-. rue du Petit-Champlain (1).JPG, The '' fresque du Petite-Champlain'', on the northern gable end of number 102
File:Little Champlain Street, Quebec City, QC, about 1890 (3421927530).jpg, The street around 1890, when it was a boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bri ...
File:Quartier Vieux-Quebec-Basse-Ville - Rue Petit-Champlain BAnQ P560S1P442.jpg, A circa-1900 view of the street
References
External links
{{commons
Petit Champlain
Petit Champlain
1680s establishments in Canada
1688 establishments in New France
Petit Champlain