Saint-Boniface Museum
this excellent museum is devoted to showcasing
Franco-Manitoban culture and history occupying the oldest
structure in the city that had been a convent operated by the
Grey Sisters, that was constructed from 1846 until 1851, and has
been an orphanage, school, senior's home and the first residence
of the Saint Boniface Hospital. Today, it houses numerous Metis
and Franco-Manitoban relics on two floors, with an attic and
basement available for overflow of antiquities and relics. It
was constructed using the Red River construction method with
tennon and mortis or tongue and groove pieces of wood, without a
single nail anywhere. The old house is now a national historic
site, and managed by the city since the late 1960s. A few of the
more famous items housed there include; Victor A. Long's
portraits of the mayors of St. Boniface, Louis Riel's coffin,
tuque and moccasins, Pauline Boutal's paintings, Archbishop
Alexandre Tache's bookcase, Andy De Jarlis's violin and Jean-Baptiste
Lagimodiere's dispatch pouch.
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