Fortifications of Québec National Historic Site
Nearly three miles of stone ramparts, gates and towers marking the only fortified city wall left standing north of Mexico.
This guide to the Fortifications of Québec National Historic Site opens with a riddle: why does a fortress that never fired a shot in real battle still fire a cannon every day at noon. It traces the ritual to 1871, when the newly formed Royal Canadian Artillery used the blast to set the town's clocks and mark the midday Angelus, plus a second evening shot that enforced curfew on off-duty soldiers. Along the way it covers the wall itself, nearly three miles of stone begun after Port Royal fell to the British in 1690 and rebuilt across two and a half centuries. Stand at the ramparts to take in the full stretch of stone before the cannon fires again.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.