The National Museum of Quebec History will have to take “communities” into account

Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir The MNHQ will be housed in the Camille-Roy pavilion of the Séminaire de Québec, on the land formerly occupied by Louis Hébert, the first settler of New France.

Dave Christmas in Quebec

Published on May 22 Updated yesterday at 10:05 a.m.

• Quebec

The Minister of Culture and Communications, Mathieu Lacombe, tabled Bill 64 on Wednesday establishing the National Museum of the History of Quebec (MNHQ). This new institution, responsible for promoting the “distinct identity” of Quebec society, must also demonstrate “the contribution of the communities who have shaped its journey and its territory”.

The MNHQ, announced at the end of April by Prime Minister François Legault, divides historians in particular on the question of the place of indigenous nations within the Quebec community of destiny. However, the bill does not specify the starting point of the national history which must be highlighted by the museum. François Legault had already announced his preference for the founding of Quebec by Samuel de Champlain, on July 3, 1608.

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The MNHQ will be housed in the Camille-Roy pavilion of the Séminaire de Québec, on the lands formerly occupied by Louis Hébert, the first settler of New France.

Until Last March, this majestic building erected in 1854 at the top of the cliffs of Cap Diamant was to host the flagship of Espaces bleues, a museum network with branches in the 17 regions of Quebec. The Coalition Avenir Québec government axed this project after its estimated costs rose from 259 million to nearly 1 billion dollars.

It's as part of the Blue Spaces that the Camille-Roy pavilion was recently renovated for $92 million. A new glass entrance door was then added, leaning on the cut stones of this building topped with a roof covered in striped sheet metal.

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As the MNHQ does not have its own collection, the 2500 m2 available will have to be furnished by drawing on the 680,000 artifacts in the reserve of the Musée de la civilization de Québec (MCQ), located at the foot of the cape Diamond.

The choice of objects will be determined by a scientific committee to which two external consultants will join, namely the historian Éric Bédard and the general and artistic director of the Society of Technological Arts, Jenny Thibault. The latter will have a decisive role in the development of the exhibition spaces of the future museum which must be the most digital in the country, as announced by Minister Mathieu Lacombe.

The new institution becomes the fourth national museum of the Quebec state, after the National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec, which opened its doors in 1933, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal, founded in 1964, and the MCQ, inaugurated in 1988, four years after its creation under the PQ government of René Lévesque.