The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is funded by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec.
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About the Musée
Former Québec City prison
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The former Québec City prison, inaugurated in 1867 and currently annexed to the Musée, is the work of architect-engineer-surveyor Charles Baillairgé.
The prison was modelled on that of Auburn Penitentiary in New York State. It advocated rehabilitation through isolation and work. At night, inmates were locked into small, individual cells and in the day, they worked silently in common areas.
As soon as the Québec City prison opened, it was overpopulated, since it also sheltered the needy. Up to 220 people were imprisoned at a time, although the prison had only 138 cells—97 for men and 41 for women.
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Cell blocks grouped prisoners by crime—repentants were separated from hardened criminals. Women had their own cell block and were sometimes accompanied by their children. As of 1931, the Québec City prison was restricted to men.
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From prison to museum
Sixty years after the prison opened, a museum was built less than 100 meters away. The two radically different establishments were neighbours for almost 40 years. By 1970, the prison had become obsolete and was abandoned. In 1971, it was converted into a youth hostel but shut down definitively in 1974.
In the 1980s, the Musée’s needs evolved. It lacked the space required to house its collection of several thousands of works. Annexing the former prison seemed an obvious solution. From 1989 to 1991, the old prison was transformed to meet museological standards governing controlled lighting, temperature and humidity.
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On the ground floor, block 6, which had housed dangerous criminals and those sentenced to death, was kept intact along with block 11, formerly reserved for vagrants and petty thieves.
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| The former prison contains four exhibition galleries. The watchtower showcases a spectacular work created in 1991 by David Moore under the program to integrate arts into architecture. |
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Guided tours of the former Plains prison
Visit the former Plains prison, now part of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. Enter this world of darkness and discover miscreants and hardened criminals from a bygone era. Accompanied by an actor playing a prison guard, explore the many facets of life in the Québec City prison at the turn of the 20th century.
GROUP TOURS Group tours are available year-round in English. Group rates. Information and reservations: (418) 644-6460, ext. 5547
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