A House of Sciences is incubating in the National-Capital. This museum with a laboratory is expected to open in 2024 in the Séminaire de Québec, in Old Quebec. To carry out this project, its instigators ask for the help of the public. However, Quebec announced significant financial support for the building’s renovation last year.
The exhibition with a scientific flavor, long dreamed of by the former mayor Régis Labeaume, should revolve around the ancient scientific instruments of the Séminaire collection. A pocket sundial from the 18th centuryAnd century, an extraordinary telescope from 1803 and an electric charge from 1889 will thus capture the attention of visitors.
This new museum of the capital, curated by the Musée de la civilization, must also present to the public a curious “phonautograph” and a “vibroscope”, pioneering mechanisms in the audio field. The vibroscope is in particular the device at the origin of the oldest known recording of the human voice.
“A laboratory for scientific appropriation and experimentation” would complete this learning space.
But before opening the doors of such a museum, officials ask for help from the public. The goal is to raise 5 million dollars by 2026. Half has already been accumulated, in particular thanks to a donation of 1 million from the patron of the Musée de la civilization, Roland Lepage.
The Maison des sciences de Québec is one of the future networks of “Blue Spaces”. A grant of nearly $ 48 million from the Quebec government has already been reserved for the Camille-Roy pavilion, where this new museum will be located. Last year, Quebec City said it wanted to contribute $ 2.5 million to the initiative. The opening of the museum, postponed to 2024, had even been promised for this year.
The creators of the project explain that public money will be used to create the museum’s contents, while government money must pay for the renovation of the entire building.
Quebec aerospace engineer Farah Alibay has been designated ambassador for this public fundraiser. “Life, our place in the universe, the construction of our world and its future are the most wonderful stories to tell, because they are endless,” he said, officially announcing the launch of the fundraiser.
