This little square in the west of Old Montréal marks the spot where the first fort, Ville-Marie, was erected. Defense was a key consideration due to lengthy fighting with the Iroquois Indians. In the 17th and 18th centuries this was a marketplace; it’s now the paved forecourt of the 1836 Old Customs House and linked to the Musée d'Archéologie et d'Histoire Pointe-à-Callière by an underground passage.
The neoclassical building looks much the same today as when it was built, but now serves as the museum’s gift shop.
