Samuel de Champlain built the first chapel on the site of Notre-Dame de Québec in 1633, and the first cathedral, Notre-Dame de la Paix, was begun in 1647. The fire of the Siege of Quebec destroyed it in 1759. Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry drew plans dated 1743 for the rebuilding. Jean Baillairgé designed the bell tower, and Thomas Baillairgé proposed the 1843 facade reconstruction.
The article calls the facade the finest Neo-classic facade in Quebec, modeled on Sainte-Geneviève in Paris. In 1874 Pope Pius IX elevated it to a minor basilica, the first in Canada. A fire gutted the church in 1922, and Maxime Roisin and Raoul Chenevert restored it.
The crypt holds four governors of New France and the bishops of Quebec. It is a National Historic Site of Canada.
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