Notre-Dame Basilica

Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal grew from a parish founded by the Sulpicians after their arrival in Ville-Marie in 1657. A first church rose here in 1672, but a larger Gothic Revival replacement, designed by James O’Donnell, was built mainly between 1824 and 1829 and became the largest church in North America for more than fifty years. Its later interior, shaped by Victor Bourgeau, is famed for blue starry vaults, gilded decoration, wood carvings, unusual stained glass, and a major Casavant Frères organ. Long central to worship and public ceremony, it remains one of Montreal’s defining monuments amid an ongoing restoration.