Breakneck Stairs

Breakneck Stairs Escalier casse-cou
Stairway
Breakneck Steps
Former name(s): escalier Champlain ("Champlain Stairs") escalier du Quêteux ("Beggars' Stairs") escalier de la Basse-Ville ("Lower Town Stairs")
The steps in 2007, viewed from Rue Sous-le-Fort
Completion	1635 (390 years ago) (1635)
Steps	59[1]
Location	Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Click on the map to see marker
Coordinates: 46°48′46″N 71°12′13″W

The Breakneck Stairs, or Breakneck Steps (French: Escalier casse-cou), is Quebec City's oldest stairway, built in 1635. Originally called escalier Champlain ("Champlain Stairs"), escalier du Quêteux ("Beggars' Stairs"), or escalier de la Basse-Ville ("Lower Town Stairs"), they were given their current name in the mid-19th century, because of their steepness. The stairs, which connect Côte de la Montagne in the "Upper Town" to the corner of Rue du Petit-Champlain and Rue Sous-le-Fort in the "Lower Town"), have been restored several times, including an 1889 renovation by Charles Baillargé, which converted the steps from a single flight into three parallel ones.^[2]

Several businesses are located on the western side of the steps at each of its four flights.

The steps through the years

• 
  1870
• 
  1892
• 
  1900
• 
  2010

References

1. Breakneck Steps – Quebec-Cite.com
2. "Québec City and Area - Stairways". Québec City Tourism. 2011. Archived from the original on February 9, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.