Who Set Fire To Montréal?
1734 The Trial of Angélique
An exhibition of the Centre d’histoire de Montréal
October 11, 2006 to March 25, 2007
Vernissage October 10, 2006 at 5:30 P.M.
In the presence of Madame Jane Cowell-Poitras, Deputy Mayor of Montréal
Montréal, October 2, 2006 – The Centre d’histoire de Montréal has created an exhibition that challenges visitors to find the real culprit behind the fire that, on April 10, 1734, destroyed the Hôtel-Dieu (hospital) along with some forty houses in Montréal. The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to explore Montrealers’ daily lives during this period.
Marie-Josèphe Angélique
Angélique, a black slave of Portuguese origin, born in Madiera near Lisbon, disembarked in Montréal in 1729 at the age of 24. Suspected, accused and then found guilty by the legal system of having set the fire, she was condemned to torture and then to being hang and burned, her ashes scattered to the wind.
Guilty or Not Guilty
Were the rumours of the day true? The archives of the trial leave room for doubt, since Angélique did not run away. Although her lover fled, she stayed in place to help her mistress. Arrested and thrown into prison, Angélique proclaimed her innocence loud and clear. Was she innocent? If she was, who was guilty? Or was it an accident?
Lead Your Own Investigation
Visitors will be helped to carry out their own investigations as they move through the exhibition, thanks to contemporary testimony from the people involved. The actions of nobles and commoners, domestics and slaves, will be examined with a fine toothed comb by these detectives-for-a-day. Based on the witnesses’ statements, motives and alibis, they will be able to draw their own conclusions.
The story of Angélique has endured thanks to novelists, artists and more recently to historians who have recounted her tragic fate. Heroine to some, scapegoat to others, her trial gives us an opportunity to learn about Montréal during the era of New France. Denyse Beaugrand-Champagne, the author of the book ‘’ Le procès de Marie-Josèphe Angélique’’, worked on this exhibit as archivist and writter.
Art in the Service of History
Marie-Denise Douyon, an artist born in Haiti, was given the task of reconstituting portraits of the different protagonists. Since immigrating to Montréal, where she has lived and worked since 1991, Douyon’s artistic practice has been marked by dislocation and by the expression of an identity that, since her arrival here, has been nourished by roots in her country of origin and in her new home.
An exhibition of the Centre d’histoire de Montréal, in collaboration with Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and the Château Ramezay Museum, which will be presenting the exhibition Justice in New France: Crime and Punishment. This exhibition paints a portrait of the colonial justice system and reveals the punishments meted out to criminals of the day: not to be missed.
The exhibition Who Set Fire to Montréal. 1734. The Trial of Angélique will be on display from October 11, 2006 to March 25, 2007 at the Centre d’histoire de Montréal, 335, Place D’Youville (corner Saint-Pierre), Old Montréal.
Information:
Entrance Fees
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.
- 30 -
André Gauvreau
(514) 872-9385
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