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The major town between MontrA©al and QuA©bec City is TROIS-RIVIA?RES , located midway between the two, at the point where the RiviA?re St-Maurice splits into three channels - hence the name "Three Rivers" - before meeting the St Lawrence. The European settlement dates from 1634, when the town established itself as an embarkation point for the French explorers of the continent and as an iron-ore centre. Lumber followed, and today Trois-RiviA?res is one of the world's largest producers of paper, the delta chock-full of logs to be pulped. It's often dismissed as an industrial city and little else, but its shady streets of historic buildings - neither as twee as QuA©bec City, nor as monumental as Vieux-MontrA©al - are well worth a wander, and the town is a good starting point for exploring the Mauricie Valley.

Trois-RiviA?res' compact downtown core branches off from the small square of Parc du Champlain and extends south down to the waterfront. Facing the park to the east, at 363 rue Bonaventure, the CathA©drale de l'Assomption (Mon-Sat 7-11.30am & 2-5.30pm, Sun 8.30-11.30am & 2-5pm; free), is notable for its Florentine stained-glass windows and massive Gothic Revival style reminiscent of Westminster Abbey. One of the town's oldest buildings, the pretty Manoir Boucher-de-Niverville , is close by at 168 rue Bonaventure, and it contains a small collection of eighteenth-century QuA©bA©cois furniture dating from 1730, when it was the home of the local seigneur (late June to early Sept 2-8pm; free). Continue south along rue Bonaventure until the water is in sight, and take a left turn to reach the narrow and ancient rue des Ursulines, the city's most attractive thoroughfare. The three-storey Manoir de Tonnancour at no. 864 (Tues-Fri 10am-noon & 1.30-5pm, Sat & Sun 1-5pm; free) holds temporary exhibitions on various themes from stamps to sculpture. Local art is on display at the nearby Maison Hertel-de-la-FresniA?re at no. 802 (late June to early Sept daily 8am-5.30pm; free), while historical exhibits are the norm at the MusA©e des Ursulines , whose slender, silver dome dominates the street. A former convent established by a small group of Ursuline nuns who arrived from QuA©bec City in 1697, it includes a chapel with attractive frescoes and gilt sculptures. The nunnery's treasures are displayed in a little museum in the old hospital quarters (May-Nov Tues-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 1.30-5pm; March & April Wed-Sun 2-5pm; Nov-Feb by appointment only; $2.50).

On the nearby, rather characterless waterfront, the Centre d'Exposition sur l'Industrie des PA?tes et Papiers , 800 Parc-Portuaire (June to early Sept daily 9am-6pm; Sept Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 11am-5pm; $3), has an informative if unthrilling exhibition on the pulp and paper industry that's the backbone of the community. Finally, the ruins of Les Forges du Saint-Maurice , 10,000 boul des Forges, (early May to mid-Oct daily 9am-5pm; $4.50) which put the town on the map as a supplier to the farmers and arsenals of QuA©bec and Europe, is now a national historic park, linked to downtown by bus #4 - get on at the bus terminal at the corner of rues Badeaux and St-Antoine.

More Trois Rivieres travel guides (each guide contains specific sub-sections):

Trois-RiviA?res
Practicalities

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