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Le Monastère des Augustines

Top choice in Québec City


On no account should you miss this museum, which traces the history of the order of Augustinian nuns who founded Québec’s first hospital, the Hôtel-Dieu, in 1644 and ran it for over 300 years. OK, it may not sound like a crowd-pleaser, but the half-dozen rooms around a central cloister are filled with remarkable displays of religious items, crafts (artificial flowers were mandatory where flowers bloom only four months a year), an old apothecary and an 18th-century refectory.

The 18th-century building also has a fantastic boutique hotel and a restaurant. Don't miss the richly decorated chapel designed by wood-carver and architect Thomas Baillairgé (1791–1859).