Statue

Jeanne Mance (1606-1673) was born in France (Champagne). Involved in caring for the sick, she began to take an interest in New France in 1640, when Mme de Bullion encouraged her to found a hospital there by providing substantial funds. Jeanne Mance left the port of La Rochelle in April 1641 in a twelve-man ship. A second ship carried Sieur de Maisonneuve. She spent the winter in the Quebec City area, arriving on the island of Montreal on May 17, 1642. The following day, the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal, of which she was a member, officially took possession of the territory. This event is recognized as the founding of Ville-Marie. In keeping with her original mission, she founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal hospital, but Iroquois attacks became more numerous and frequent. By 1651, only a third of Ville-Marie’s 150 settlers remained. In despair, de Maisonneuve left for France to return with reinforcements. If he couldn’t, he intended to abandon the Ville-Marie project, considering the situation untenable. Jeanne Mance proposed using funds originally earmarked for the hospital to pay the soldiers. This event, known as the Grande Recrue, was a turning point. In 1653, 177 settlers arrived in Montreal. Jeanne Mance succeeded in breathing new life into Montreal’s colonization project.
This wax statue of Jeanne Mance was designed by and for the Montreal Grévin Museum (2012-2021). Some of the statues were distributed to various Quebec museums when the Musée Grévin closed.