Discovering cultural preservation and the historic wonders of the built environment during study abroad in Canada
– Katja Ziemer, SPC High School Student, Canada Program, January 2019
During my week in Canada I saw and learned so many things. The two cities we visited revealed so much about Canadian culture and their way of life.
In Montreal the houses were multiple stories, similar to row homes, and all the staircases were on the outside, which I thought was really interesting. The reason behind this was a law that required all buildings to be further away from the street. So to save space, contractors moved staircases outside. This showed me that the actions of a few people can completely change the architecture of a whole country.
Montreal is very serious about preserving their culture. In fact, they have sets of laws to ensure their culture isn’t diluted and lost. In Montreal, the first language is French and they are very proud of this. One of the laws to protect the French language is that every sign has to have a French word. So “Starbucks”, became “Café Starbucks.” I love how seriously Montreal takes the preservation of their culture. Another example of this is their law that prevents any building from being taller than Mount Royal. They did this to protect the view from the top of the mountain.
In Montreal there is a museum–Pointe-à-Callière–that focuses on the city’s history and is located on the site of Montreal’s first European settlement. On this archaeological site, you can see remains of a fire, the outline of where the perimeter fence used to be, and the walls of the homes. As a lover of archaeology this was one of my favorite activities of the trip. It was amazing to see how much had come from the events that transpired in this tiny settlement from hundreds of years ago.
The second city we went to was Québec City. The city was built in two different levels. The base level is old Québec. This city was built very early on, destroyed, taken by the British, fell into despair, and restored. The city is very beautiful and it has replicas of some of the important buildings that were first built there. The determination of the Canadian people to change the course of this city and restore their history is inspiring, it makes me want to focus on history and its preservation.
This entire trip reinforced my decision to pursue a career as an archaeologist. That alone made this trip worth every penny.
– Katja Ziemer, SPC High School Student, Canada Program, January 2019
Thank you for sharing Katja!
Cover image: View from Mount Royal Chalet / Chalet du Mont-Royal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Photo by Bohemian Baltimore (cropped), Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0].
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