The
Citadelle - the French name is used both
in English and French - is a military
installation and official residence located
atop Cap Diamant, adjoining the Plains
of Abraham in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
This citadel is part of the fortifications
of Quebec City, the only city with extant
city walls in North America. The Quebec
Parliament Building and many other provincial
government buildings and several large
hotels are also nearby, towering over
this sunken or flat citadel, typical of
late 18th century and early 19th century
castrametation. The first protective wall
(enceinte) was built in the 17th century
under Louis de Buade, sieur de Frontenac.
A plan of fortifications was developed
by the French military engineer Jacques
Levasseur de Néré (1662-1723)
and approved by Louis XIV's commissary
general of fortifications Sébastien
Le Prestre de Vauban in 1701.
Considerable
work took place on the fortifications
after the fall of Louisbourg in 1745 under
the direction of military engineer Gaspard-Joseph
Chaussegros de Léry. The existing
star-shaped fortifications were built
by the British between 1820 and 1831 under
the direction of Royal Engineer lieutenant
colonel Elias Walker Durnford and incorporated
a section of the French "enceinte"
of 1745. Their purpose was to secure the
strategic heights of Cape Diamond against
the Americans and to serve as a refuge
for the British garrison in the event
of attack or rebellion. The preservation
of much of the fortifications and defences
of Quebec is due to the intervention of
Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st
Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, Governor
General of Canada 1872–1878, who
also established the Citadelle as a vice-regal
residence.
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