Historic District of Old Québec

Champlain planted his settlement on the cliffs above the St Lawrence early in the 17th century, and Québec still keeps what every other North American city has lost: its ramparts, complete with bastions, gates and outworks. The Upper Town gathers churches, convents, the Citadel, the Dauphine Redoubt and the Château Frontenac above the old merchant quarters of the Lower Town — a fortified colonial capital preserved whole. UNESCO inscribed the historic district in 1985.