Overlooking the St Lawrence with its medley of steeple and spires, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours was Montreal’s first church and dates back to 1655, though everything you see today is from 1771.

Its waterfront location helped make it the “Sailors’ Church”, with quite a few saying thanks for their safe passage with gifts of model ships, which now hang from the vault.

The chapel interiors are otherwise remarkable for their airy feel and the play of the light in the vault’s grey and ivory tones which make it hard to discern the buildings structure from its decoration: a clever bit of bit of trompe l’oeil, by local painter François-Édouard Meloche in the 1880s.

Also inside the church - in a glass-fronted chapel to the left of the altar – is the tomb of the nun who not only initiated the church, but also founded Montreal’s first school and became its first teacher: Soeur Marguerite-Bourgeoys. The tomb's ornate altar contains a tiny wooden statue of the Virgin and Child, given to her in 1672.

The museum, dig & tower