Toulouse

Capitole Square

As we walk into the center of the city, all the street are named in both French and Occitan, the original language of this region (Occ means "yes" in that Occitan language). While the buildings are predominantly red, we also see brick colored with chalk to look much more like the stone buildings of Paris. Stone is used mostly in government and church buildings, since it has to be shipped in. The Capitole is a prime example, this is the seat of government (the town hall) for Toulouse. From about 1200 until the French Revolution, the city was run by eight men of property who were elected for one year terms. During this time they made the laws, ran the city, and acted as judges. After their term, they were considered noblemen. The building facade dates from 1750. We entered by the Great Staircase to the halls above. The first major hall had paintings by Henri Martin (1860-1945) including “The Dreamers” with one boat doing laundry and another collecting sand for bricks and four panels, one for each season. The Salle des Illustres is used for conducting weddings typically 20-30 every Saturday. The end panels have paintings representing Pope Urban II entering Toulouse in 1096 and The Defense of Toulouse.

Jacobin's Church

Nearby we visited the Jacobins Church. Marie asked one of the Dominican monks to tell us some of the history. St. Dominic started preaching in Carcassonne to combat Catharism, an offshoot of Catholicism. The pope asked Dominic to begin an order here, the Dominicans, and he ordained two priests in Toulouse in 1215. So the Dominican order is celebrating its 800th anniversary this year. The church here is a Romanesque church built in the 14th century. It was very different than any other church we've seen, built of bricks with central columns. Originally, these columns separated the religious and the laypeople. The walls were painted to look like marble and the windows have red stained glass on the sunny side and blue on the north side. The arches are unique, especially the palm tree arch at the head of the church. The church was intentionally made to look massive to symbolize the power of the church. St. Thomas Aquinas’ relics lie here. After the French Revolution, the church became a stables with two floor above, one for sleeping and the other for a granary. It was only reopened after restoration in the 1970s. Only about 10 masses a year are celebrated, and one will be on Pentecost Sunday (in 2 days) and broadcast across France.

Our Lady of Grace

In the afternoon, Mary and I visited the Musée des Augustins, a former monastery, which was converted to a museum after the French Revolution. The collections included Our Lady of Grace restored from the 15th century and a collection of polychrome statues from the Rieux chapel built around 1340 at the Cordeliers Convent. Particularly interesting was a statue of Jean Tissendier (a rich bishop) donating the chapel. Next we came upon a series of capital stones from various 12th Century religious buildings from Toulouse. The next section of the museum had sculptures and paintings from the 17th to 20th century. I was particularly intrigued by the Nightmare sculpted by Euene Thivier.

 

Saint Sernin

After a quick rest, we then walked to the Saint Sernin Basilica. At one time this church would see a thousand pilgrims a day on the Way of St. James. The church was built in honor of a 3rd century bishop who was martyred here, dragged through the streets behind a bull. The church was consecrated in 1096 by Pope Urban II. Today, it is the largest Romanesque church still standing. In the crypt are the relics of 128 saints including four apostles.