Citadel of Quebec And Abraham Plain
Past and present of Quebec
The Citadel of Quebec, probably the most famous place in this city. It has a rich past and present. There is a Museum inside the Citadel and you also have the possibility to visit it. If you are lucky you can see the Change Guard ceremony that is at 10H every day (except in Winter).
Museum
the Museum is covering many important periods in the history of the Citadel. the first one deals with the Colonials War (obviously). The first set of Fortification, made by the French, were made in wood and dirt. By the end of the conflict, they tried to build stone fortifications but got wrecked by the English before they could finish. Fun fact about the Abraham plain battle: The French got defeated in approximately 20 minutes, which made it one of the shortest battled in the history. It is the English who finish the fortifications, due to all the problems they had with the Americans. Ironically, the newly built fort proves to be useless as the Americain soon stopped attacking Canada. Also, the improvement in cannons made them more effective in facing those structure.The next one is the citadel involvement in WWI as a training camp. There is an exposition on some of the weapons used during the conflict. As well as the nurses' services that were in actions. With all of this, there is a miniature of how the trench looks like, on the ground and underground as well.After this, there is a small section on the period between the two WW. It exposed some part of the daily life of the military at the Citadel. Them it continues with the WWII, This section is much smaller. It is mainly covering the propaganda used by the Nazis and Canada offensive in Italy. The last room is about the Afganistan war. At the end of it, there is a section with all the medals given to troops that stay in the Citadel.
Visiting the Citadel
For this part, you'll have to take a guided visite since it still an active military base. The visite is available in English and French. However, those are two different groups so be sure to follow the right one. In this tour, you'll visit the main buildings of the Citadel. Those include the gunpowder magazine with a sub-structure that contain a memorial book of all the Soldiers of the fort that took part in a war.There is also the remnants of a French Redoute, most of the original structure was destroyed to let place for the King Bastion and the most famous canon of the fort Rachelle. (It is the one at the far end).Rachelle is the second biggest gun of the fort, It was used to break the ice during winter, know boats are doing her job. Also, she was actually using shells instead of cannon balls. This is because the last time they did the ball ricochet on the ice and destroyed a house (yes that what we called a fail).In the Prisons, there is a small exhibit on many types of bayonet used by various countries. You can also have a look of an actual prison cell ( Apparently it was made for six to seven guys). There is another one on uniforms, no the one on the back is not for Hott. Finally, there is a representation of Batiste, the goat of the fort.Then you have the carter of the officers, commander, soldier and even for the Governor General. All of the Buildings in the fort are named after a battled in which the troops of the fort takes part. (some of the latest are put on flags due to a lack of space.)
Batiste
Batiste is the mascot of the fort, the one in action is the eleventh one. This tradition was settled around 1930 when Queen Elizabeth II offered Batiste I to the fort. The goat is constantly under the care of the Goat Officer. He is charged to look after the goat all the time during the special events like the Change Guard ceremony. The grade of Goat Officer is an official title in the army and is also viewed as prestigious (I know it is weird). here is everything that made this place interesting.
