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Since its founding by a Scottish immigrant in 1842, the regional capital of CHICOUTIMI has grown from a small sawmill centre into one of the province's largest towns and as such is not a particularly enticing place. The city's main attraction is La Pulperie de Chicoutimi at 300 Dubuc, five austere brick buildings built along the rapids by the Chicoutimi Pulp Company, which was founded in 1896 and quickly became Canada's largest producer of paper pulp. Left to rot in 1930, these gigantic ghosts of Chicoutimi's industrial past had been restored to prime condition but the flood of 1996 caused $1 million damage and the site lost its restaurant and summer theatre. Relocated to the Pulperie site in 1994 is the strange Maison du Peintre Arthur Villeneuve . The former home of Naive painter Arthur Villeneuve, the house is in effect one big painting, with murals covering inside and out. The subject matter is somewhat unadventurous, but the artist's work is bright and cheery while scenes of 1950s Chicoutimi - when Villeneuve started his project after retiring as a barber - are intriguing. Tours, in French, are given on the half-hour (summer only). The whole site is undergoing restoration and a final date for work to be completed is uncertain; for the latest on which parts of the site are open, telephone 698-3100 or 1-877/998-3100.
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