The Quebec Parliament Building: A Monument to History.

• Author: Levy, Gary
• Position: Book review

The Quebec Parliament Building: A Monument to History. Text by Gaston Deschenes, Photographes by Francesco Bellomo, Les Editions Stromboli, Assemblee nationale du Quebec, 2007.

The City of Quebec marks its 400th anniversary in 2008 with millions of tourists expected to attend numerous special events. There will be no shortage of souvenirs but for anyone interested in Parliament it will be hard to find a more beautiful memento than this lavishly illustrated, intelligently written book. The author is an historian who was a long time researcher for the National Assembly. The photographer is head of a publishing house that specializes in prestige editions.

The book actually spans more than 400 years going back to the discover of New France by Jacques Cartier in 1534. Subsequent chapters are dedicated to the various stages in Quebec's development including the founding of New France, the traumatic transfer in 1763 from one colonial power to another, the establishment of parliamentary institutions less than thirty years later, the rebellion of 1837, the organisation of a provincial government that emerged after confederation, the construction of the present day legislative building in 1887, the evolution of parliamentary...