After years of research, officials at Montreal’s archaeology and history museum, Pointe-à-Callière, say they are now able to pinpoint the precise location of the city’s first European settlement.
Although archaeologists have been digging the Fort Ville-Marie site since 2002, a recent discovery has allowed them to confirm the exact dimensions of the structure that housed the city’s early French settlers.
The settlement measured about 2,500 square metres, was rectangular in shape, and oriented parallel to the St. Lawrence River.
Just in time for Montreal’s 375th anniversary next year, visitors to the museum will be able to see the remains of Fort Ville-Marie in a new pavilion that is being built to protect it.
Visitors to the Pointe-à-Callière’s new pavilion will see the remains of Fort Ville-Marie through a glass floor. Credit: Daily tous les jours.
Ville-Marie was established in 1642 as a Catholic settlement with 51 inhabitants on land near the St. Lawrence River that had been occupied by Indigenous people for thousands of years.
Louise Pothier, an archaeologist at the Pointe-à-Callière museum, told Canadian Press, “For the first time we know what it looked like in the mid-17th century, what it was made of, and where the site of the future pavilion was inside the fort.”
A new exhibition, Where Montreal was Founded, will pay tribute to the city’s founders, Paul de Chomedey Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance. Visitors in the new pavilion will be able to walk across a glass floor overlooking the remains of the fort and other remains unearthed during different digs, including an Indigenous fire pit pre-dating the city’s founding.
Some of the 250,000 artifacts found during the digs will also be on display.
The pavilion will bear Québecor’s name, recognizing the telecommunications and news media company’s $1.125 million donation to the project.
The Fort Ville-Marie — Québecor Pavilion will be inaugurated on May 17, 2017, the very day of Montreal’s 375th anniversary.
You can read the Canadian Press article and see photos of a mock-up of the settlement in this CBC report.
This will definitely be a “must see,” marking my calendar May 2017.