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Backtracking to Cote de Palais and down the hill a few steps, rue McMahon leads to the northwest corner of Vieux-Quebec and Artillery Park , whose immense defensive structures were raised in the early 1700s by the French, in expectation of a British attack from the St Charles River. After Quebec fell the British added to the site, which was used primarily as a barracks for the Royal Artillery Regiment for more than a century. In 1882 it became a munitions factory, and a foundry was added in 1902, later providing the Canadian army with ammunition in both world wars; it finally closed in 1964. The massive Dauphin Redoubt, named after Louis XIV's son, typifies the changes of fortune here: used by the French as the barracks for their garrison, it became the officers' mess under the British and then the residence of the superintendent of the Canadian Arsenal. The jumble of fortifications is well explained at the reception and interpretive centre (Feb-March & Nov-Dec Wed-Sun noon-4pm; April to early May Wed-Sun 10am-5pm; early May to Oct daily 10am-5pm, except July & Aug until 6pm; $3.25, guided tours an additional $3.25; www.parkscanada.gc.ca/artillerie ) in the former foundry beside Porte St-Jean. The centre has displays on the military pedigree of the city, including a vivid model of Quebec City in 1808. The nearby Officers' Quarters, where the British officers lived until 1871, is set up as it was circa 1830, with costumed guides relating the everyday lives of the soldiers and officers.
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