IV.

Education and Culture

Québec has long been an important educational center. Laval University (Université Laval), chartered in 1852, is an outgrowth of the Grande Séminaire (1663), the first Canadian institution of higher learning. Both Laval and the Télé-université campus of the Université du Québec are located in the suburb of Sainte-Foy. The metropolitan area also has eight community colleges, which in the province of Québec are known as CEGEPs (Collèges d’Enseignement Général et Professionel, or Colleges of General and Occupational Education). The city’s public elementary and secondary schools, like others throughout the province, are divided into French-speaking and English-speaking school systems.

Québec is an important religious center. Its Roman Catholic bishopric (1674) is the oldest in North America north of Mexico, and there are more churches and shrines per square kilometer here than in Rome. The nearby healing shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré attracts thousands of Roman Catholic pilgrims each year.

The city contains numerous museums, such as the Museum of Civilization, designed by Israeli-born, Canadian-trained architect Moshe Safdie; Québec Museum in Battlefields Park; and the Musée de l’Amérique Française in the old Québec Seminary. The Grand Théâtre is the home of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.

In sports, the city hosts the Rafales of the International Hockey League. Several downhill and cross-country ski centers are located just outside the metropolitan area. For two weeks each February the city is taken over by the Winter Carnival, which features a grueling canoe race across the usually semi-frozen St. Lawrence River.