Canada Guide
Québec City
Cathedral of the Holy Trinity
Address: Corner of rue Ste-Anne and rue des Jardins
Opening time: Daily late May to Oct 10am–5pm; free guided tours
Telephone: 418/692-2193
Website: www.cathedral.ca
The Cathedral of the Holy Trinitywas the first Anglican cathedral built outside the British Isles. The king of France gave the site to the Récollet Fathers but their church burnt down in the late eighteenth century. Its replacement, constructed in 1800–04 on orders from George III, followed the lines of London's church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. The simple interior houses the 1845 bishops' throne, reputedly made from the wood of the elm tree under whose branches Samuel de Champlain conferred with the Iroquois. Many of the church's features came from London, including the silverware from George III and Victorian stained glass, shipped in vats of molasses for protection. The brass bars on the balcony denote the seats for the exclusive use of British sovereigns (or their representatives); humbler parishioners had wooden doors on the box pews to keep the winter cold out. In the courtyard are Les Artisans de la Cathédrale, Québec-based artisans whose small crafts and clothes stalls avoid tourist tack.