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Culture and Exploration
Discover the 9 museums in Lac-Saint-Jean featured in the 2023 Circuit des Amusées
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What is the circuit des amusées ? It’s a partnership of 9 musées exceptionnels et uniques around Lac-Saint-Jean. Visit three or more museums this summer and get 15% off the regular admission price! This is your chance to enjoy a cultural getaway in Lac-Saint-Jean!
Participating museums
This year, you’ll have the chance to visit the following nine aMUSÉES: the Trou de la Fée Cave, the Moulin des Pionniers, the Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette, the Mashteuiatsh Native American Museum, the Louis Hémon Museum, the Métabetchouane History and Archaeology Center, The Odyssée des bâtisseurs, the Old Perron Cheese Factory, and the Val-Jalbert Historical Village.
La caverne du Trou de la Fée
The Trou de la Fée Park features several attractions, the main ones being the immersive experience, the cave tour, and the Métabetchouane River Canyon. Come explore the canyon and discover the turbulent Métabetchouane River with its waterfalls and rapids. Stroll through the heart of the canyon along the water supply pipeline walkway and the footbridges anchored to the rock outcrops. Let yourself be enchanted by the Three Falls Trail and captivated by the Green Corridor Trail. For those seeking an adrenaline rush, you can cross the canyon on our 350-meter zip lines at a height of 50 meters.
The Pioneers’ Mill
This year, Le Moulin des Pionniers offers a brand-new experience. The whole family can have fun with water games, giant dry slides, a giant trampoline, an obstacle course, and much more! During your visit, you’ll also discover a wide variety of items belonging to a family from the 1900s. If you’d like, you can even stay on-site in one of four unique accommodations. A unique opportunity to have a great time with your family at Le Moulin des Pionniers!
L’Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette
You’ll enjoy an extraordinary immersive, visual, and narrative experience at the Ermitage Saint-Antoine. The Expérience Origine takes the form of a story that speaks first and foremost to the senses and emotions. While we are accustomed to words, here it is images and music that take center stage. Origine plunges the viewer into the heart of a multisensory experience and gradually leads them to experience new sensations. The content of the Origine experience is exceptional and different from what is usually offered, which is why this Quebec production is unique in North America!
Mashteuiatsh Native American Museum
The Musée amérindien de Mashteuiatsh shares the history and culture of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh through a tour where you can immerse yourself in the knowledge of the Ilnuatsh, as well as learn about other First Nations in Quebec and across the Americas. In addition to its permanent exhibition, the Native American Museum offers three temporary exhibitions; a tour of the Nutshimitsh outdoor garden (in the forest); and creative arts workshops.
Musée Louis Hémon
Be inspired, reflect, and explore. As a space for both creativity and exchange, the Musée Louis-Hémon seeks above all to share its passion for regional literature and history with you. Located in the very heart of the land of Maria Chapdelaine, the Museum invites you to delve into the intimate world of Louis-Hémon’s work and get to know the people who inspired him.
In addition to offering breathtaking views of the mouth of the Péribonka River and Lac-Saint-Jean, the Louis-Hémon Museum offers unique and refreshing museum experiences every year, including the brand-new virtual tour of the Maison Samuel-Bédard, where the writer stayed in 1912. A must-see in the beautiful Lac-Saint-Jean region!
The Métabetchouane Center for History and Archaeology
The Métabetchouane History and Archaeology Centre is located on the shores of Lac-Saint-Jean. For thousands of years, it served as a gathering place for most of the Indigenous nations of northeastern North America, who met there every summer to trade and share. The site features, among other things, an archaeological site and a powder magazine, the oldest building in the region. You can also admire works by local artists in temporary exhibitions.
L’Odyssée des bâtisseurs
L’Odyssée des Bâtisseurs immerses you in the captivating history of Lac-Saint-Jean and offers indoor activities (year-round) and outdoor activities (June through September), including immersive exhibits, a walking trail, a water tower featuring a 360-degree immersive film, and an obstacle course.
Through 3D animations and historical reenactments, discover the origins and functions of various 20th-century industrial artifacts and devices featured along the outdoor trails. The exhibitions presented in the heritage building of the Maison des bâtisseurs invite you to learn more through the permanent exhibition “Beyond Water” and the temporary exhibitions “Frette or Tablet – 400 Beers in Quebec” and “Through Krieber’s Eyes,” not to mention that you can walk on a giant map illustrating the vast regional territory.
In addition, to explore the history of the Isle-Maligne and Riverbend neighborhoods—former company towns located in Alma—two Balado-Découverte interpretive tours with interactive maps are offered free of charge to discover the area’s heritage history.
La vieille fromagerie Perron
The Vieille fromagerie Perron is housed in an exceptional historic building: a former cheese factory that stands as the last and only remaining example of the artisanal cheese factories that once dotted the rural landscape of Quebec in the early 20th century. A guided tour of the old cheese factory and the logis du fromager will give you a better understanding of its history as well as the traditional techniques used to make cheddar cheese. To conclude your visit, you’ll be treated to a cheese tasting and can participate in a workshop on atelier de fabrication de beurre artisanal, a new addition since 2022.
The Historic Village of Val-Jalbert
Step back in time to an authentic company village featuring some forty original buildings. You’ll be captivated by the enigmatic atmosphere of this place, where time stood still in 1927. It’s an open-air museum where you can, among other things, touch the period houses, hop aboard a trolleybus for an unforgettable guided tour, feel the energy of costumed characters, and immerse yourself in the heart of the village and its history with a breathtaking immersive show… Finally, a visit to Val-Jalbert wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the base (or the top) of the majestic Ouiatchouan Falls!