Digital Louisbourg

For Educators

Bring the Fortress of Louisbourg into your classroom. Digital Louisbourg is a 3D reconstruction of the fortified French town as it stood in 1750, built from historical plans, archaeological records and LiDAR terrain data. Students can explore it in 3D, ask what the evidence supports, and see why every reconstruction is an interpretation.

Free lesson plan: Exploring Louisbourg in 3D

A one-class lesson for Grades 7 to 9 in history and social studies. Students investigate the model in small groups, use it as evidence to answer a question about the fortress, and weigh how reliable a reconstruction really is.

Level: Grades 7 to 9
Time: 60 minutes, one class period
You need: a projector or student devices
Includes: learning goals, a minute-by-minute lesson flow, sample group questions, assessment ideas and extensions

Download the free lesson plan (PDF)

The plan is written to be adapted. Map the learning goals to your own provincial or local curriculum outcomes.

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Explore the model with your class

These pages are free to view online and work well on a projector:

3D Viewer: explore the fortress as it stood in 1750
Interactive Map and Structure Index: find and learn about individual buildings
Screenshot Gallery: stills of the gates, bastions and streets
Fly-through video: a guided look around the town
Research Methodology and Sources: how the evidence became a model, useful for the reliability discussion

School and institutional licences

Looking at the model on this website with your class is free. If you want to go further, for example a licensed copy of the detailed model for a computer lab, a library or museum display, or a university course, school and institutional licences are available. A licence is intended to cover:

Display and teaching use on your school or institution’s premises and in your teaching materials
A simple credit line wherever the model or images from it are shown
Your own copy of the files, where a download is part of the licence

Licences do not include the right to resell, redistribute or modify the model. School licence pricing is by quote while it is being finalized. To ask about a licence, contact: daniel@digital-louisbourg.ca.

See licence tiers and permissions