The Fresque des Québécois (Mural of Quebecers) is a giant trompe-l'œil painting on the side of an old house at the foot of Côte de la Montagne, a few steps from Place-Royale in the Lower Town of Old Quebec. Inaugurated in 1999, it covers about 420 square metres, and the painted houses, stairs and windows continue the real street so well that from a distance it is hard to tell where the building ends and the paint begins. Hidden in the scene are more than a dozen figures from four centuries of Quebec history.
The Fresque des Québécois at a glance
- Where: rue Notre-Dame, at the foot of Côte de la Montagne, on the side wall of the Maison Soumande, next to Place-Royale in the Lower Town.
- Created: 1999, painted in nine weeks.
- By: a team of twelve artists from Quebec and France.
- What it is today: a free open-air artwork on a public street, and a regular stop on walking tours of the Lower Town.
- Time needed: 10–20 minutes, longer if you want to find every character.
A history book painted on a wall
Place-Royale is where Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec in 1608, and by the late 1990s the city wanted to make more of this symbolic corner of the Lower Town. The blank side wall of the Maison Soumande was chosen for a mural, with support from the Commission de la capitale nationale du Québec and the Quebec cultural agency SODEC. Twelve artists from Quebec and France painted it in nine weeks, and it was inaugurated in 1999.
It was the first of Quebec City's large trompe-l'œil murals; the Fresque du Petit-Champlain, about the old port district of Cap-Blanc, followed in 2001 a short walk away. The Fresque des Québécois is the busier of the two. Rather than illustrating one event, it is a portrait of the city: its stone houses and ramparts, the staircases that climb from the Lower to the Upper Town, its seasons from summer to deep winter, and the people who shaped it.
What to look for
- Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec, and Jacques Cartier, the navigator who explored the St Lawrence in the 16th century.
- Félix Leclerc, the singer-songwriter often called the father of Quebec song.
- Bonhomme Carnaval, the snowman mascot of the Quebec Winter Carnival, in the winter part of the scene.
- The painted staircase and city walls, which echo the real stairs and fortifications of Old Quebec.
- The painted house fronts and the city's coat of arms. Compare the painted stone houses with the real ones on Place-Royale, round the corner.
Who's who on the wall
The information panel beside the mural names the main figures. Among the explorers are Champlain, Cartier and Louis Jolliet, who mapped the Mississippi. Government is represented by Governor Frontenac, the intendant Jean Talon and Lord Dufferin, the Governor General who campaigned to save the city walls. The founders of the Church and its institutions appear too: Bishop François de Laval, the Ursuline Marie de l'Incarnation, Catherine de Longpré of the Hôtel-Dieu, and the founders of two women's congregations, Marcelle Mallet and Marie Fitzbach. They stand next to the politician Louis-Joseph Papineau, the historian François-Xavier Garneau, the women's rights activist Thaïs Lacoste-Frémont, the credit union founder Alphonse Desjardins, the bookseller and poet Octave Crémazie and Félix Leclerc.
Tips for your visit
- Step back as far as the street allows to take in the whole wall, then walk up close: many details only work from a distance, others only up close.
- Use the panel next to the mural to play spot-the-character, a good game for children.
- Mornings and early evenings are quieter; at midday in summer the corner fills with tour groups.
Nearby
- Place-Royale and Notre-Dame-des-Victoires: the square where Champlain built his first settlement in 1608, with a small stone church from the late 17th century, a minute's walk away.
- Escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Steps): the steep staircase between Côte de la Montagne and rue du Petit-Champlain, a few minutes' walk away.
- Rue du Petit-Champlain: the narrow pedestrian street of shops and cafés below the cliff, with the Fresque du Petit-Champlain at its far end.
- Funiculaire: the cliff railway from the Lower Town up to Dufferin Terrace and the Château Frontenac.
See Quebec City with World City Trail
Our Quebec City scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 2 hours, with about 35 minutes of walking. It includes City Hall and the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral in the Upper Town.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Quebec City.
Play the Quebec City scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Quebec City →
Play the outdoor escape game in Quebec City →
Facts checked in October 2026.