A national museum will tell the history of Quebec

The first museum exclusively devoted to the national history of Quebec will open its doors in a building of the Séminaire de Québec which hosted the first French-speaking university in America.

“My hope is that Quebecers who come to visit this museum come away saying they are proud of their history,” said the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, on April 25 at the Séminaire de Québec.

He chaired the press conference announcing the creation of the museum on the site where the exhibitions will be held. It is a pavilion built in 1854 to house Laval University, “the first French-speaking university in America”, as we can read on a commemorative plaque on the facade of the Camille-Roy pavilion.

“Guided by an independent scientific committee, the museum will highlight the people who have marked the history of Quebec, but also the territory, significant events in politics, arts and culture and even sports,” commented in an interview with The newspaper historian Éric Bédard, professor at TÉLUQ University and author of several books on the history of Quebec.

With the general and artistic director of the Society of Technological Arts, museologist Jenny Thibault, he will advise the Musée de la civilization, project manager, until the first visitors are welcomed.

First since René Lévesque

Present at the press conference and visibly moved to make this announcement, the Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, spoke of a historic moment since the last time a national museum of Quebec was created, it That was over 40 years ago. René Lévesque himself launched the construction of the Museum of Civilization.

Nothing has been revealed about the content of the rooms, but we know that there will be a permanent exhibition and temporary exhibitions. These will focus on themes or personalities who marked their time.

The museum experience will be partly immersive and will make use of digital technologies. The museum will also offer online educational resources on the history of Quebec to teachers and students.

Recycling a renovation

It was Minister Lacombe who had the idea of ​​proposing to use the flagship site of the Blue Spaces to make this new museum. Announced with great fanfare by the government in 2021, the Blue Spaces aimed to create a network of 17 regional museums, but the costs and delays proved excessive. The government reversed course on March 4.

Renovations of the Seminary pavilion which was to serve as a bridgehead for this network had begun when the project was abandoned; they will continue with the plans for the new museum.

If the announcement of the new museum was generally well received, voices were raised to question its relevance. The history of Quebec is already well present in the programming of several museums. And a professor from Laval University, Jean-François Gauvin, denounced in the Duty the missed opportunity to finally open a national science and technology museum.

A fourth national museum of Quebec

The announcement of the creation of the Museum of National History of Quebec comes 40 years after that of the Museum of Civilization by the Prime Minister of Quebec René Lévesque. The status of national museum makes it a state corporation with recurring financing and which reports to the government.

Here are the three national museums of Quebec and the year of their inauguration:

1933 – National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec

1964 – Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art

1988 – Museum of Civilization