# Toulouse, France



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Toulouse*​










Hello everybody !

In this thread I would like to guide you in the old center of Toulouse, along its lanes which irrigate its heart of pink brick, in the discovery of its rich cultural and architectural heritage.
Toulouse is called “the pink city” because, for centuries, it was built almost exclusively using tiles and bricks.
It is situated in the southwest of France on the banks of the Garonne river. 










*The Capitole*​Our visit begins at the Place du Capitole, the central square of the city. 
Here is the townhall: the "Capitole". The name "Capitole" referred not only to the Capitol of Roma (at the very beginning Toulouse was a roman city) but also to the capitulum which was the chapter of the governing magistrates since 1190.
The current façade, 124 metres long and built of the characteristic pink brick in neoclassical style, dates from 1750. The Capitole shelters mural paintings representing some of the major events of the history of Toulouse.


























































































The little "sparks" are different versions of the occitanian cross :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

INSIDE THE CAPITOLE BUILDING

This painting represents the very first session of l’Académie des Jeux floraux ("Academy of the Floral Games") which is the most ancient literary institution of the western world. It was founded in 1323 by seven troubadours with the goal of encouraging poetry. It still exists today :









The former lounge of the marriages :









Right : Love at the age of 20 / Left : Love at the age of 40.









Love at the age of 60 (Note that only the Man ages, the Woman always remains young ! :cheer: )


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

This painting of Henri Martin may have inspired Salvador Dali, because we find these mowers and the children in the background of the painting "Dionysus Spitting the Complete Image of Cadaques" (1958):








Toulouse inspired other backgrounds to the brilliant Spaniard, as we shall see it farther with the Jacobins convent.





































Pierre de Fermat (1601-1665), inventor of the differential calculus :









This painting represents pope Urban II entering Toulouse in 1096, he was preaching the first crusade. Raimond IV (represented as the soldier who guides the papal horse), count of Toulouse and also known as Raymond of St Gilles, became one of the leaders of this crusade. Raymond was offered the crown of the new Kingdom of Jerusalem, but refused, as he was reluctant to rule in the city in which Jesus had suffered.


















The 13th Century saw the rise of Catharism, which led to several years of disorder. A siege of Toulouse occurred between October 1217 and June 1218 during Albigensian Crusade. It was third of a series of sieges of the city during the height of Crusader efforts to put down Catharism (and the local Languedocian nobility). It ended in the repulsion of the Crusaders and the death of their leader, Simon IV de Montfort; hit on the head by a stone from one of the defenders' siege engines maneuvered by a woman. 
But this victory was only delaying the inevitable. Before the end of the 13th century, the Catharism was almost eradicated and Languedoc subjected to the Kingdom of France.









Paule de Viguier (1518-1610) was widely considered to be the most beautiful woman of her time. The Maréchal de Montmorency called her “one of the marvels of the universe.” At the age of 15, she produced a strong impression on king François I visiting Toulouse, he gave her the nickname of “Belle Paule” (beautiful Paule). 
The Capitouls of Toulouse, under popular pressure, had to oblige her to appear at regular intervals at her balcony to calm the heated spirits. Posterity has not left us with any portraits of her. This one can be found in the Capitole in the “Salle des Illustres”, it was painted by Henri Rachou in 1882. One never knows if it reflects the truth (probably not, because she had blond hair).
Later she was then a real sponsor for the Toulousian arts of the Renaissance, welcoming in her house poets, writers and singers. Paule died almost hundred-years-old in 1610.









Here is count Raymond VI of Toulouse, who was excommunicated and thus was denied a Catholic burial, though he had been accepted into the ranks of the Knights Hospitalers shortly before he died. He had to face the Albigensian crusade.
He is commemorated for his early contribution to civil rights and the idea of separation of Church and State. He is for example one of four figures painted on the ceiling of the Minnesota Supreme Court in the USA by John La Farge in 1903, where he is shown in the company of Confucius, Socrates and Moses, each representing an aspect of law. Raymond's painting is called "The Adjustment of Conflicting Interests", and accompanying text explains "The scene is of Raymond VI of Toulouse standing before the papal legate in 1208. Raymond argued successfully for city freedoms, extended exemptions from taxation, and protection of the communal territory from the church."
On the painting below, he was denied the right to enter the church (of course an allegory of his excommunication).









Only the Henri IV courtyard and gate survive from the original medieval buildings.









The town council works here:






















































This painting represents the young Molière discussing with the older Goudouli, the famous Occitan poet:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Saint Sernin basilica*​Saint Sernin basilica is one of the biggest remaining romanesque church in the western world (115m long, 64m large). It was built mainly between years 1070 and 1120. It is said to have the most important collection of relics of France, including that of Saint Saturnin, the martyred bishop of the city, to whom the church is devoted. The history says he was tortured in 3rd century by trying to convert the Roman people of Toulouse to the Christianity, he was attached to a bull and dragged by the animal until death follows.
Few Romanesque big churches have remained intact as St Sernin. This monument is an essential stage on Saint James Way (the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, in Spain).



























The choir is the oldest and most beautiful part:









The tympanum of the Porte Miegeville. It depicts the Ascension in quite a literal manner, with angels hoisting Christ up into heaven by the waist. Below, the apostles look up in wonder while two angels explain that he will return from heaven in the same way :



















This huge monument is almost 1000 years old!









Under the roof, a former classroom that cannot be visited (those two pictures are from a TV program). The universe is divided into spheres on which celestial bodies turn around the Earth, at the center. It was, of course, far before the Copernican revolution: 









The Earth is represented with three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. America had not been discovered yet:


----------



## StoneRose (Sep 13, 2004)

Beautiful city with awesome weather.


----------



## madonnagirl (Aug 7, 2011)

beautiful shots.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Romanesque paintings (12th c.) that were only discovered in the 1970s, when the 19th-century plaster was removed from the walls :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

16th century paintings :


















A romanesque Christ, note that every foot has its nail :


















The construction of the bell tower was made in two phases: the first one at the end of the Romanesque period (early 12th c., round arches) and the second much later (around the year 1300) when it was completed in Gothic style (upper two arches):


----------



## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

Nice thread...beautiful photos and nice, informative write-ups, thanks.:cheers2:


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice shots from Toulouse; well done and thanks


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Thanks for your kind comments, I apologize for my bad english (when it is not copy-paste  ).


*The Garonne river*​
The Pont neuf (New bridge) is the oldest of the city. It was built from 1542 to 1632 and for centuries was the only bridge of Toulouse capable of resisting the violent floods of the Garonne.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

A poet said that the brick of Toulouse is made for the caress of the sun :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Here is an arch of a bridge which didn’t resist the Garonne, at Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques former hospital:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Toulouse and the Dominicans*​
The Cathar heresy began in the 9th Century and became firmly established across Southern France. Large numbers of castles were built, showing just how deep-rooted the religious movement became.

The Cathars rejected the authority of the Catholic church. They soon began to worry the Pope and the King, who declared war on them and launched a Crusade against Count Raymond VI, who was doing nothing to counter the rise of Catharism.

At the same time (in 1215), Saint Dominic founded in Toulouse the Order of the Friars Preachers, popularly called the Dominicans, in an attempt to sway members of the Albigensian movement back to mainstream Christian thought. History counts numerous famous Dominicans, among them let us quote Savonarole, Fra Angelico, Torquemada or Thomas Aquinas...

In the city which is their birthplace, Dominicans erected a beautiful convent called "Couvent des Jacobins" (13th century). 
This site housed the University of Toulouse when it was founded in 1229 (the second oldest in France after the Sorbonne in Paris, and one of the oldest in Europe). 



























There is a large rounded mirror so that you can properly admire the Jacobins’ palm tree, a column and balustrades inside the church that rise up 28 meters, without hurting your neck.









Columns 22 metres high are considered as the highest of the Gothic architecture.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

This "palm tree" is an architectural curiosity, it seems that it is unique in all the Christian architecture :


















Anecdotally in 1957 this vault inspired to Salvador Dali one of its great masterpieces: Saint James the Great (or " A dream of the cosmic unity " - Beaverbrook art gallery, Fredericton, Canada):






















































Here rest the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas, a famous dominican theologian considered as the greatest thinker of the Middle Ages.
Two different theories explain why pope Urban V had attributed these relics to Toulouse in 1369, while Thomas Aquinas had never been in this city in his lifetime. First one says that the pope simply chose the most beautiful Dominican church of this time. Second says that it was as compensation not to have obtained saint Dominic's relics (kept in Bologna, Italy).
In the Middle Ages it was very prestigious for a city to possess the relics of a saint of this dimension. Thomas Aquinas was so worshipped and considered that his bones were a little scattered, if the main thing is to the Jacobins, certain bones (particularly of arms and legs) were given as favour.









The convent has a beautiful cloister that worth the visit:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The convent was transformed into stable by Napoleon. The urine of horses damaged frescoes at the foot of walls :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

An other testimony of the dominican presence in Toulouse is the house of St Dominic (aka Maison Seilhan). This is one of the oldest house in Toulouse and St Dominic lived there when he was in the city, it became later the house of Inquisition.

In the 17th century, dominican friar Balthazar-Thomas Moncornet painted the ceiling of a chapel near the house with 15 scenes of the life of Saint Dominic :









1 - *Dominic's baptism.* Dominic Guzman, born in Caleruega, in Castile, inherits from a Catholicism of conquest (Reconquista). Under the shape of a dove, the Holy Spirit stays up him:









2 - *A sign of vocation.* As a child, Dominic leaves his bed to sleep on the floor, bees (symbol of wisdom) flutter around his mouth, signs of an austere life dedicated to the preaching. We thus find the premonitory signs of the mendicant friars' order that the dominicans will form:









3 - *Dominic's mercy.* Dominic sells his books, nevertheless indispensable to his studies, to give the charity to the poor people. He is represented in knight because, then studying, he was not still a clerk. The sale is represented to the foreground and the donation to the poor people in the background:









4 - *The return in the Gospel.* The Cathar heresy preaches by the example the frugality and the austerity, contrary to the catholic clergy which compromises with the power and the wealth. Dominique wants to live a poor and exemplary life to announce the Kingdom of God and thwart the success of the Catharism. He and his followers go barefoot to the precariousness and the poverty:









5 - *The prayer of the Rosary.* Removed in the forest of Bouconne, near Toulouse, to pray, Dominic receives the rosary of the hands of the Virgin to convert the populations. In this panel appears an emblem of the Dominicans: a dog carrying a torch. Since the high Middle Ages the clergymen are compared with dogs, asked to guide the herd and to protect it from wild animals, heresies being often represented by foxes or wolves. The dog carries in its mouth a flame, to mean the heat of the charity and the light of the truth:









6 - *Institution of the order of Preachers.* Pope Honorius III recognizes the order of Preachers in 1216, after the council of Latran:









7 - *The apostolic vocation.* Saint Peter and saint Paul give a stick to Dominic and order him: " go and preach ". The friars leave worldwide and their order encounters a big development:









8 - *Protection of the Virgin Mary*, Catherin, the patroness of the philosophers, and Cecilia, the patroness of the liturgy:









9 - *A miraculous intervention.* Of a sign of the cross, Dominic pushes aside a torrential flood:









10 - *Dominic's prayer.* Dominic is represented tempted by the devil, who tries to interrupt his prayer:









11 - *A cure.* By his prayer, Dominic cures an architect victim of a fall. This miracle refutes the Catharism which despises the body, because the attention of Dominic goes to the totality of a man and not only to the safety of souls:









12 - *A cure in Rome.* Another miraculous cure where Dominic brings in back to life a fallen off a horse teenager (we would say rather a big baby, this teenager):









13 - *Dominic's purity.* Dominic gives himself the discipline, besides the carrier dog of the torch, we can see a lily put on the ground. This flower is one of distinguishing features of Dominique in the iconography, the symbol of the purity of his life:









14 - *The end is coming.* An angel announces his death's coming to Dominic and hands him the crown of justice:









15 - *Dominic's death. *Dominic dies on August 6th, 1221. Friar Guala, prior of Brescia, saw open heavens and angels to hold two ladders towards the eternal life:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

There is an anecdote about this ceiling : At the french Revolution, the Dominicans were thrown by out of the house. Then, after many events during 19th century, the Jesuits acquired the house and covered the ceiling of plaster, little concerned by saint Dominic's life (1860). 

Finally everybody forgot the existence of this ceiling until we find the painting below (by Joseph Roques, painted in the early 19th c.) in the 1980s. Paintings were intact under the forgery-ceiling.
A kind of miracle, isn't it ?









Inside the house, paintings representing Saint Dominic :



























Saint Thomas Aquinas :









The chamber of St Dominic, where he used to pray and live :


----------



## tititlse (Jan 4, 2006)

Amazing views with the monuments Pistolero.
I discover again our city in its old centre with old monuments.


----------



## RobertWalpole (Mar 16, 2010)

Very nice!


----------



## Falubaz (Nov 20, 2004)

It looks more like Italy than France to me.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

You're not wrong, Falubaz, one can say that Toulouse has Spanish accents and Italian facades.


----------



## urba31 (Jan 21, 2007)

Toulouse is unic in France with its colors and architecture. Toulouse seems to be the french Florence or the french Bologne.


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

I'm very excited to have discovered this sub-forum, and particularly this photographic one.
Toulouse is somewhere I have long wanted to visit. You are quite clearly proud of your city, and with good reason.

The pink colour of the stone and the sunlight creates a very warm and welcoming feel.

I will look through in greater detail over time. Some fantastic galleries.

I hope to visit next year ( along with Carcassonne!)


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

I hope that you can make it, openlyJane. If you can, dedicate a day to visit Albi, for its cathedral and the Toulouse-Lautrec museum.


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

This is one of the best threads I have seen here. I am also very interested in religious art and architecture. I want to visit Toulouse! :banana:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Saint Raymond museum*​Here is the musee Saint-Raymond, it shelters a collection of Roman antiquities found in the region of Toulouse, particularly very beautiful mosaics, a collection of busts of Roman emperors, sculptures staging labours of Hercules, and also a collection of medieval sarcophaguses.























































Where is the vine leaf?









Oceanus :









Thetis and Triton :


----------



## Expat (May 25, 2005)

Tremendous beauty!


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Parks and gardens*​This garden is the former cloister of Saint-Pierre-des-Chartreux, it is now a garden for the University :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

And this one is the botanical park of the city :































































The she-wolf stole a puppy to the bitch. I always wondered if it was to make her meal or her young ?
It represents Germany (the she-wolf) who stole Alsace-Lorraine region (the puppy) to fertile France (the bitch).









St Exupery and the "Petit Prince" :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Saint Etienne cathedral*​Construction of this fascinating cathedral dedicated to Saint Stephen spanned five different centuries (from the 13th to the 17th) during which architectural taste changed considerably. The result is a rather disconcerting mishmash of styles. We enter by the raymondine naive, built in a southern gothic style with a large single naive. The second section consists of a vast choir in the northern French gothic style.














































The cathedral possesses magnificent wooden stalls of the beginning of the 17th century which served as model in all Southern France:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The stoning of Saint Stephen :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Mansions*​In 16th century, the success of the pastel (woad) which gave a beautiful blue dye made the fortune of rich Toulousian traders. They built magnificent mansions, Toulouse in account more than seventy.
Most of these traders became capitouls and so obtained the right to add a capitular tower to their house.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Assezat mansion*​The most famous of those Toulouse mansions is the Hôtel d'Assézat (16th century).
The courtyard is characterized by the superposition of the three architectural orders : Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Today, the mansion is the headquarter of the Academy of Floral Games (the oldest litterature and poetry institution in the Western world) and of the Bemberg Fondation, a rich Argentine art-lover. (I visited it and that was great, but I can't show you the collections because that's the only place in my Toulouse visits where photos were forbidden).
































































Well... I told you photos were forbidden at the Bemberg Fondation museum, but I took discreetly this one with my mobile :devil:...
Venus and Cupid (Lucas Cranach the elder) :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*The former hospitals of the left bank*​
In the Middle Ages, the left bank of the Garonne was reserved for hospitals. A way of taking away the patients of the city (the plague went on the rampage), and too bad if the river flooded regularly this district.

The first building is the (former) hospital of Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques (early 12th century). The pilgrims heading for Santiago de Compostela, after a stop at Saint Sernin, were looked there.




























The abandoned babies were deposited there :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The other hospital of the left Bank is La Grave (12th century), with the spectacular dome of its chapel (18th century). During the periods in which the plagues ravaged Toulouse, the Hôpital de La Grave was used care for those afflicted with the disease, isolating them from the beggers, injured and disabled.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

On the left bank too are a lovely park along the old city walls and the museum of modern art : Les Abattoirs. Les Abattoirs was formerly Toulouse's city slaughterhouse (19th c.).

First, a medieval tower : "la tour Taillefer"


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*The museum of modern art : Les Abattoirs*​




































DSK and Nafissatou... no... mistake, that's not them...


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Here is the masterpiece of this museum, a Pablo Picasso giant painting called "The Minotaur's body dressed as a harlequin". 
This painting represents a gigantic rebus for which I have the explanation in french, but I'm sorry to be unable to translate it in english. Well, let's try with an automatic translator : _the Fascism, the rapacious bird, supports bestial capitalism ready to collapse. Facing him, a bearded man gets free of spoils of an animal, and carry on the shoulders a genius haloed with stars._









Ladies and gentlemen, here is the face of capitalism :


















Count the number of penises :lol:









Wow ! That's modern art ! ("Genten", by Kazuo Shiraga - means "black sky").


















When I showed this photo to my son who is 12, I told him he was doing the same few years ago. And he replied : "No dad, look at the balls under the guy...". Well, I must admit I didn't notice that point...









This is not an accident, this is art :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*The museum of fine arts : Les Augustins*​
I prefer definitively the fine arts, let us return on the right bank of the river, to visit the fine arts museum...

The Musée des Augustins is housed since 1793 in a Augustinian monastery building, "it offers the visitor the chance to stroll in one of the finest groups of monastic buildings from the XIVth and XVth centuries." Well that's true, it's a very beautiful museum.




































Those gargoyles are singing. Can you hear the sound of silence?


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Notre Dame de Grasse (15th c.) (Our lady of Grasse). This sculpture was one of the stars of the exposure " France in 1500 " in Paris, last year.


















Another great sculpture (early 16th c.)


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Saint Simon Stock was pleased to see me:



























Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Augustin, by Perugino:









Christ on the Cross, by Rubens:









The Ecstasy of San Diego de Alcala de Henares, by Murillo:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The western part of the museum is much more recent (19th century) :


















The cloister shelters a kitchen garden similar to that of the monks of the Middle Ages :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

"The nightmare"


















Vade retro, satanas !


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

- edit


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Churches of Toulouse*​As the former capital of Languedoc, Toulouse attracted several religious orders and counts many churches. Here are some remarkable.

Notre Dame du Taur. The building of the present-day church began in the XIVth century, on the site of the tomb of Saint Saturnin, whose name became changed over the passage of time to Saint Sernin. His tomb is now situated in the Basilica that bears his name and that can be visited nearby.
The Church of Notre-Dame du Taur has a large bell-tower with numerous crenelations and a triangular gable characteristic of Toulouse and the surrounding area. Its recently restored façade attracts the attention of the passer-by en route from the Capitole to Saint-Sernin.




























Paintings of the 14th c.:






















































Saint-Pierre-des-Cuisines, a very old church (this is the oldest church in south-west France). Recently restored, it is now a 400-seat auditorium where musical events and dance performances are held. 




































Saint Exupère :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Saint-Pierre-des-Chartreux. The Chartreux Order was founded by St. Bruno in 1084 in a valley in the Grenoble diocese. In the 16th century, the Chartreux friars, driven out of the city of Castres by the Protestants, purchased all the grounds north of the church to build a vast monastery covering a 10-hectare area now located in the Social Sciences University campus. 
The church is beautifully decorated with frescoes, bas-reliefs, series of paintings and a lavish marble altar.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Basilica of la Daurade.
Until 18th century, its inside sheltered beautiful and ancient golden mosaïcs dating the 5th century, the period when the Visigoths had made of Toulouse their capital.


















The black virgin of la Daurade, especially protective of children and pregnant women, has a very important wardrobe, elaborated by most French fashion designers. A facetious fashion designer made her a battle-dress, which she probably doesn't wear often !


















Of the ancient convent of the Cordeliers (Franciscans), destroyed in 19th century, remains only the bell tower. It is said that it was as impressive as the Dominican convent of the Jacobins.









Notre-Dame de la Dalbade
The tympanum over the main door boasts a ceramic reproduction, dating from 1874 and the work of Gaston Virebent, of Fra Angelico's Coronation of the Virgin.




































The tower bell of la Dalbade was the higher of the city. It collapsed in 1926 :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Saint-Nicolas :













































Eglise du Gesu:






















































Temple du Salin :









And a true gem in the church "Les Minimes": the painted ceiling (early 17th c.) of a chapel:





















































































































Last but not least, the Carmelites' chapel. The Carmelites' convent was built in the 17th century. Its chapel survives, and is noted for its remarkable decor : 17th century murals by Jean-Pierre Rivalz, and 18th century murals by Jean-Baptiste Despax. The rest of the convent was destroyed during the french revolution.









The ecstasy of Saint Teresa :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Along streets*​


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

15th century, Saint Peter :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The pharmacy Ozenne and its internal decoration of the 18th century:


















Sometimes, when atmosphere is pure, the Pyrenees are visible in this direction, and they look very close. But not this day.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Let us return to the Capitole Square, at the Bibent. This brasserie from the end of the 19th century has a beautiful decoration Belle Epoque, redone recently, that is worth seeing.
An anecdote makes it also a place of history : this is the place where in January 1914 three Serbian nationalist students prepared the plan to murder to Sarajevo the archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand, an event which was going to start the first world war.


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

Gorgeous!
I am using this thread to make a decision about what French cities to visit on in 2012. I am going to ski somewhere in the French Alps and I want to see Lyon. I will have about three weeks, so I want to see some other large French city. I was thinking about Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Maybe I will choose Toulouse! I am really interested in religious art and architecture.


----------



## Filandon (Jun 24, 2009)

Great thread, definitely a master piece of architecture in brick, Toulouse and Albi are wonderful examples of how to make beauty and art out of what is often considered a poor and too simple material, they just proove how wrong can people be


----------



## edubejar (Mar 16, 2003)

aljuarez said:


> Gorgeous!
> I am using this thread to make a decision about what French cities to visit on in 2012. I am going to ski somewhere in the French Alps and I want to see Lyon. I will have about three weeks, so I want to see some other large French city. I was thinking about Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Maybe I will choose Toulouse! I am really interested in religious art and architecture.


If you visit Strasbourg and Toulouse, you will have visited two completely different French cities, one Alsatian (German-like), and one Southwestern (almost Spanish). Plus, Strasbourg and Toulouse have the colors that Bordeaux lacks and Toulouse is very lively and full of young people, while Bordeaux will be more old and definitely more bourgeois. Also, both Strasbourg and Toulouse are very regional (unique)--Bordeaux is more "French French" which you will already see if you visit Paris.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

aljuarez said:


> Gorgeous!
> I am using this thread to make a decision about what French cities to visit on in 2012. I am going to ski somewhere in the French Alps and I want to see Lyon. I will have about three weeks, so I want to see some other large French city. I was thinking about Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Maybe I will choose Toulouse! I am really interested in religious art and architecture.


Well, If ever you choose Toulouse and are so interested in religious architecture, take few hours for a visit of Albi which has the great gothic cathedral that Toulouse lacks. Albi is only 80 kms from Toulouse and is easily accessible by train or bus.
But if you prefer 1st class "classic" gothic cathedrals, then Strasbourg is more indicated, because the cathedral of Albi is magnificent but not classical (see my thread on Albi).


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Utterly magnificent galleries, churches and high cultural riches. I knew I wanted to visit - your pictures tell me why.

When next I visit France, Toulouse it is.


----------



## urba31 (Jan 21, 2007)

Filandon said:


> Great thread, definitely a master piece of architecture in brick, Toulouse and Albi are wonderful examples of how to make beauty and art out of what is often considered a poor and too simple material, they just proove how wrong can people be


Very good reflexion about build simple material.
Toulouse, Albi, Montauban didn't need "white stone" to build great monuments like other french cities.

Every city is different, but the "stone" is with same colours. Toulouse is really different in colours and architecture.


----------



## Nightsky (Sep 16, 2002)

Great presentation, Toulouse seems to be a really beautiful and cultural city!


----------



## davido777 (Sep 23, 2011)

Wow! Toulouse is a true magnificent discovery for me! I thought that it was only an industrial city for Airbus. I love the pink brick! Such beautiful churches!


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Thank you for those kind comments. I don't think I will show photos of the Airbus' factories, because the purpose of this thread is to show the old Toulouse, but one never knows.


----------



## SO143 (Feb 11, 2011)

Very beautiful pictures and thanks 

In French - Ainsi donc si belle que je Miss France, Merci


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice new photos from Toulouse


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

Thanks everyone for the kind feedback! :cheers:


----------



## timo9 (Oct 24, 2008)

Pistolero said:


>


nice shots :applause:


----------



## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

Beautiful pics....kay:


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

I would like to see more please...


----------



## aster4000 (Jan 28, 2010)

absolutely, a beautiful city.
never thought that the city is rich in culture and arts.
thank you.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

christos-greece said:


> I would like to see more please...


I shall complete these photos in a month, after my next visit in Toulouse.
Well, I have some photos which are not mine, but postcards :

*Postcards*​Les Jacobins convent :


















Saint Sernin basilica :


















Saint Etienne cathedral :









Hôtel d'Assézat :


















The Pyrenees mountains in the background :


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Magnificent and picturesque.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Toulouse in winter*​
Here are some pics that my father took in february 2010 (thanks dad ! kay

Here is the "dungeon" of the Capitole, built to house the city archives in the 16th century. It was renovated in the 19th and then surmounted by a Flemish pinnacle, quite atypical for the region !
Today it is the Toulouse tourist office, on the other side of the Capitole building with regard to the main square.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

Wonderful new photos! Merci beaucoup!!!


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Grazing light of the winter sun :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Claude Nougaro, who sang Toulouse as nobody had ever made it.






















































They spotted me!



























Fine arts school:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

A former water tower transformed into museum of the photo since 1974 :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Foggy atmosphere, I like that one :


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

The last shots from Toulouse are just great, very nice :cheers:


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Lovely - really looking forward to visiting .


----------



## flyintermean (Oct 10, 2011)

Great picture. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*...and Toulouse in summer*​
Some more pics of this summer :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

Loved the updates! What a great-looking city!


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Fantastic and very nice updates :cheers:


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Once again - just lovely. I love the picture of the walled garden.


----------



## aarhusforever (Jun 15, 2010)

Amazing city with all those beautiful old buildings  Thanks for sharing


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Around the Canal du Midi*​
The Canal du Midi was built from 1666 till 1681, it was considered by people in the 17th century as the biggest project of the day.
The canal, 241 kms long, runs from the city of Toulouse down to the Mediterranean port of Sète. 
Thanks to its connection with the Garonne river, it was built to serve as a shortcut between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, avoiding the long sea voyage around hostile Spain, Barbary pirates, and a trip that in the 17th century took a full month to complete.

It was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Between friends, and for the pleasure of the passers-by :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Thanks to Google Earth, a map of the visited sites.
The boulevards which surround the center follow mostly the plan of the former bulwarks of the Middle Ages :


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Thank-you for such a lovely thread.


----------



## Tarbeshp (Dec 19, 2011)

stunning! this is my region's capital and i realize i know it so little (shame on me)! i must visit one of thes days. :cheers:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Thanks openlyJane and Tarbeshp 

*Paul Dupuy museum*​
I want to show you now some others museums of the city.
The first one is musee Paul Dupuy, museum of the decorative arts, which shelters in particular one of the finest collections of horology of the world. 




































A beautiful Jesuit pharmacy of the early 17th century:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

An ivory horn from 11th c.



























A sabre having belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte:









The pistol with which Brutus killed Julius Caesar. No, I'm joking :nuts:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The horology collection:



























Here is an automaton which sings:

















































































And to finish a tapestry which comes from the Hotel of Malta of Toulouse, it shows the king of Hungary who received the half-cross of the hands of the Grand Master of the order of Malta, in Cyprus in 13th century:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*Georges Labit museum (oriental arts)​*This house of neo-Mauresque style of the 19th century was Georges Labit's house, who spent his youth to explore Egypt and Asia. He returned of his journeys a surprising collection of Asian and Egyptian works of art which constitutes one of the richest in France.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Tibet:









Mongolia:









Burma:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

A surprising ivory articulated spiny lobster of the era Edo (Japan):


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

A statuette of the 11th century, particularly sensual


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*The Bazacle​*This hydroelectric power station has become both an educational and a cultural centre (free entrance). Here the public can see a fish pass and various exhibitions. It has a good observation point overlooking the Garonne.
In the past, here were mills cited by Rabelais (a famous writer of the 16th c.) as being the most powerful in the world. And in about 1250, the shares of the Bazacle Milling Company (_société des Moulins du Bazacle_) came to be traded on the open market in Toulouse and their value fluctuated according to the profitability of the mills: the earliest example of a joint-stock company.



























Happy fish :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Well... you're lucky if you see a fish passing. I wasn't.


----------



## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

awesome photos, very nice candid shots of life in Toulouse...:cheers2:


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Interesting pictures from Toulouse.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

*The History of Medicine museum​*The collections and objects housed in the History of Medicine museum are presented in the Hôtel-Dieu Saint Jacques former hospital.









A 18th century pharmacy:



























A 34 kilo hernia:









It is a kind of fly which provoked that:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The basic suitcase of the doctor:









Cancer of the face:









I find this drawing very funny:









Equipment of ophthalmology:









Cataract operation:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The equipment of the dentist:


















Of course, there was no electricity:









The first devices of radiology were so harmful for the operators that they had to protect themselves with lead aprons (green garment to the right):









Copy of "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp" (by Rembrandt, housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands):


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Those ones were not taken in the street itself but in its close neighbourood:


----------



## Bristol Mike (Aug 5, 2007)

Great pictures of Toulouse! I love the red and white brick building, third from bottom.


----------



## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

beautiful Toulouse pics....thank you.:cheers2:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

^^ thanks 

Singers and musicians during road work :


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

wow... i hadn't seen this thread in a while. Amazing updates! I especially love decorative sculpture! :cheers:


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice updates from Toulouse


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Coming just in time to enrich my report, here is a photo seen today in the local newspaper La Dépêche du Midi showing the crowd on a Saturday afternoon in this street: 








With its 15 meters wide and its 900 meters long (not counting its continuation by the street of Languedoc which makes it a rectilinear avenue of 1,4 km), the street sees the passing of 100.000 persons on every Saturday and 60.000 every weekday. Figures which should rise once the road work to pedestrianize it will be finished.
For a city like Toulouse which is not so big, this is not too bad.


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

I have mixed feelings about pedestrianisation; it makes the space more relaxed, to some extent, but with a loss of character


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

We need more TOULOUSE!!! :banana:


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

^^ I believe the same... more photos please


----------



## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

really nice updates from Toulouse...more please.


----------



## Wapper (Feb 24, 2011)

What is the name of that shopping street?


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

^^ This is Alsace Lorraine street (rue d'Alsace Lorraine in french).
Well thank you for your interest, all 
I think I'll add some more pics in few weeks. But I added pics in the previous pages during the last monthes.


----------



## danmartin1985 (Mar 5, 2012)

B e a u t i f u l !
impressive museum, buildings and the city as a whole.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

After the "Google earth map", I enjoied making the "Bing map of Toulouse". And yes, it's also a big map:


----------



## Filandon (Jun 24, 2009)

Is that grass on the Sports center? 
Walking in the flanks of the river in Toulouse is great! you get wonderful perspectives of La Grave Dome. For me Toulouse reminds me a lot of Florence


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Toulouse looks beautiful from the air.


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

Excellent resolution!


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Filandon said:


> Is that grass on the Sports center?
> Walking in the flanks of the river in Toulouse is great! you get wonderful perspectives of La Grave Dome. For me Toulouse reminds me a lot of Florence


Yes this is grass.
Florence has an incredible artistic wealth, I think that it would be presumptuous to compare Toulouse (or any other city) in Florence


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Another street which owes its name to an inn (of 17th c): the street of the Apple.


















It is not always easy to see the attractive small details in Toulouse because the patchwork of the colors of facades misleads the eye.
Here, balcony with balusters:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Disparity of style:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n°5, mansion built by Jean Bernuy (16th century, which is not the hotel of Bernuy more known of the Gambetta street, we shall go there). 
In the courtyard is a beautiful Renaissance's portal of Nicolas Bachelier. We shall talk again about this Nicolas Bachelier, you will see...


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Map of the district on the wall:









Facades on a sunny day:









And same facades without sun:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The rue du poids de l'huile (weigh of oil) owes its name to the place where foodstuffs were formerly weighed, notably oil.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Street Montardy :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The movie theatre Utopia is a former concert hall, there remains in the hall a decoration realized by Marc Arcis, who was Sculptor of the King under Louis XIV then returned to Toulouse and participated in the decoration of several chapels as well as in the baroque choir of Saint-Sernin basilica. 
Once in front of ticket offices it is necessary to make a U turn and to look up. The decoration is unfortunately not very visible, nowadays all its high part is almost stuck to the masonry. It is at least twice as high as what I was able to photograph.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Lafayette street, "strategic" axis which leads of the Wilson Square in the Capitol Square:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Pelissier street:
Two main buildings line this side street: the Galleries Lafayette store on one side (of the roof of which you can have a beautiful view on the roofs of Toulouse) and the Saint Jérôme church of the other one.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

On the other side of the street, the François Rességuier mansion (17th century, named also Duranti mansion) was incorporated into the building of Galleries Lafayette, but there remains the facade:













































In numbers 4-10, former commanderie of St Antoine of Vienna:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The St-Jérôme street was decorated with copies of old sculptures affixed on a modern facade:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The saint-Antoine du T street owes his name to the monks of saint Antoine of Vienna.
All this street was redone after the french Revolution. 























































Inside a corridor, columns of marble of Caunes as we find a lot in Toulouse. This very beautiful pink / red marble of the region of Carcassonne - which also decorates Versailles palace - had become accessible thanks to the Canal du Midi:


















In the courtyard, old sculptures :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Mouldings in terra-cotta:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Metz street is one of the "big" Haussmannian streets of Toulouse, it crosses the city center from east to west.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The facade of the fine arts museum:


















The gate of this former Augustin convent comes from the Black Penitents convent destroyed during the building of the Occitan square:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

And here is the building that we had already met in the Rue des Arts (Arts street):



























The decoration of these consoles is inspired by the Renaissance's one of the Assézat mansion:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The former Grand Hôtel:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The cathedral is close by:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Very good, very nice updates from Toulouse


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In the middle of the Metz street, the Esquirol square was the city center in the Roman time. It would be here that saint Saturnin would have been attached to the bull who dragged him up to the Rue du Taur street.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Very small, the Assézat square serves as a forecourt in front of the mansion of the same name. Having made his fortune in pastel trade, Pierre d’Assézat started building this mansion around 1555. His position as Protestant caused him to lose its possession even before its completion. For a long time, this mansion had been supposed to be the work of Nicolas Bachelier, the most famous sculptor and architect of the Toulousian Renaissance. Nicolas Bachelier studied art in Rome, which was enough for 19th century's archeologist Alexandre du Mège to revisit his biography and make him a pupil of Michelangelo, Bachelier’s production showing some resemblance to the works of Michelangelo.
This is also Du Mège who claimed that the mansion plans were signed by Nicolas Bachelier, whereas the only thing we are certain of is that his son, Antoine Bachelier, indeed worked in it. This double imposture from Du Mège eventually saved the Assézat mansion from demolition as the cutting of the Metz street first planned to have it destroyed. But the “main masterpiece” of the “Toulousian Michelangelo” couldn’t be wiped off the map so that the layout of the street was modified. 
As far as I am concerned, I’ll stay wary of coming to the moral of this story. :lol:

(Many thanks to Bovin for this translation)



























Some of the decoration's characters represent Indians (of America), it was important for a wise man of this time to show that he was interested in the new discoveries.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Let us pass now in the South of the Metz street, in the district of the Saint-Etienne cathedral (St Etienne = St Stephen).
Between old facades and mansions, the Croix-Baragnon street is interesting in many ways.









Let us begin with the Fumel mansion, although its mailing address is located in the south part of the alsace-Lorraine street. Nowadays it shelters the Chamber of trade and industry. It was previously the house of the first President of the Parliament (of Languedoc), then the archiepiscopal palace.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Espinasse street has the name of a colonel.


















The main element of this street is the Mansencal mansion ( 1527-1547 ). I was able only to photograph what we see of the street:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

I don't have much to show you of the street Escoussières-Montgaillard, if it is not a small curiosity in n. 31...









On the facade, a tiny sculpture representing a crossed rider:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Ozenne street has the name of the banker Théodore Ozenne ( 1814-1895 ). He bequeathed to the city the Assézat mansion.
The drilling of this street in 1911 made debate, because its plan destroyed or amputated numerous mansions. The architects made however so that the modern buildings are in sync with the old having survived.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n. 10, the Potier-Laterrasse mansion (courtyard of the 16th c.):


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

N. 15-17:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 8 bis, Baderon-Maussac mansion (16th c.) :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n.9, Pierre Dahus (15th. c.) and Guillaume Tournoër (16th c.) mansion, hexagonal tower dating 1533.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

N. 4:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In spite of its old aspect, the facade of this house dates of the beginning of the 20th century:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Grande rue Nazareth street: this nearby street of the former Parliament is especially lined with houses of the 17th and 18th centuries built by people of justice.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 24, Avizard mansion (17th c.) :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 40, St Thomas Aquinas school:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Féral street:









In n.1, Blaise d'Auriol mansion (16th-19th c), but doors were close  


















In n°4, Our Lady of Nazareth chapel constructed from 1452 till 1520. Not very attractive facade, but inside nicely decorated:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Over the altar, we can read the mention " privileged altar ", what means that a pope had granted this title, probably for finances, to celebrate the service under his blessing and deliver indulgences:









Golden wooden altarpiece framing a very beautiful annonciation of 17th c:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The rue des Fleurs street:









The entrance of the criminal court gives onto this street.




































At the end of the street, the church of Jézu:









I do not show more of it because I showed it in the part dedicated to churches, higher. It is closed almost always, except for Heritage Days and during the " Toulouse les orgues " festival (Toulouse Organs).


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n°13, the House of the Lawyer presents an attractive courtyard. Il is probably a former mansion.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

At present temple of the Reformed Church of France, this beautiful building was formerly the Finance building. Kings of France stayed there during their visits in Toulouse (that gave it its other name of House of the King).


















On this square thrones Jacques Cujas's statue, eminent Toulousian jurist of the 16th century considered as the greatest humanist among the French jurists:









The Salin square served formerly as place of execution. One of the most striking personalities to have been tortured and executed here was the free thinker and philosopher Giulio Cesare Vanini ( 1585-1619 ). The religious intolerance of this time was worth to him the same fate as to his more known fellow countryman Giordano Bruno (who spent two years of his life in Toulouse but was executed in Rome).
On the Salin square, the city of Toulouse created a (modest) "location" in his memory :









Finally it is in n°7 of the Parliament square that is "St Dominic's house" on which I have already abundantly commented at the beginning of this thread.


----------



## fieldsofdreams (Sep 21, 2012)

^^ Really gorgeous homes and structures! I especially like the Jacques Cujas statue and the Reformed French Church, in which the building looks pretty thin to be a place of worship, but what I find amazing is that both of them find their way in an already-magnificent city that showcases many of the best in French architecture and design. I haven't had the time to see the rest of your photos, but I will make sure to comment on them too. Wonderful! :hug:


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

Wonderful stuff!


----------



## alexander2000 (Aug 6, 2011)

splendid...some of the buildings are really very old and that's a great thing they withstood the test of time and bad elements like wars and natural calamities.


----------



## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

Toulouse has a big medieval center.


----------



## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

lovely Toulouse...thanks for the nice pics Pistolero. :cheers:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The name of the Pharaon street (Pharaoh) comes not from Egypt but from a distortion of the name of Raymond d' Alfaro, who organized at night of May 28th, 1242 the massacre of the members of the Tribunal of the Inquisition in Avignonet.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

n. 45, Lespinasse mansion (17th. c.) :


















n. 52 capitoul Olivier Pastoureau mansion (16th. c., but reshaped) :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 47, capitoul Jean Marvejol mansion (17th. c.) :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Dalbade street owes its name of the church of the same name. It is particularly interesting due to the architectural and artistic wealth of the hotels which line it, although I was not able to enter into each.









The church was previously seen on this thread:









In 29 Aldéguier mansion (1603) :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Unfortunately many inner courtyards also serve as parking lots for the inhabitants, and the pollution tarnishes the beauty of decorations.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 31 is the Lamamye mansion (16th century), in the courtyard a facade preserved its Renaissance decoration of the beginning of the 16th century when, for the first time in Toulouse, we found the three antique orders superimposed: Doric below, Ionic in the middle, and Corinthian at the top (year 1518).


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n°25,mansion of stone (so called Clari mansion or Bagis mansion) is especially known for its spectacular baroque facade realized in 17th and 19th centuries):


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The inner courtyard of this mansion is more considered and less known at the same time than its facade. It is with difficulty accessible, being lived only by private individuals.
Dating 1544, facades on courtyard are the first appearance in Toulouse of the art of Nicolas Bachelier.


















It is these both atlantes ageing that were worth to Bachelier the reputation (distort as it appears) to have been the pupil of Michel Ange during his formation in Rome. Indeed according to the specialists their style reminds the "slaves" that can be seen in the Louvre museum.
Anyway we can admire the decoration and regret that it is not better protected from the pollution (parking lots in the courtyard for inhabitants, again).


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Cleaned, these black "slates" would show marble of diverse colors:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n°22, the Molinier mansion dates 1556, it has two inner courtsyards:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n°18, mansion of the baron of Montbel (18th century):


















Inner courtyard:


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

The last updates from Toulouse are really very nice, awesome. Well done :applause:


----------



## Linguine (Aug 10, 2009)

thanks for the fantastic photos Pistolero. :cheers:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Taur street connects the Capitol Square with the basilica St-Sernin and owes its name to the bull - taur in Occitan - who dragged St Saturnin in the year 250. The rope which dragged the martyr is supposed to have broken in this street (which did not exist at that time, because the place was outside the city).


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 58, the former college of Périgord:









In the courtyard:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n°69, the former college of Esquile shelters now the film library of Toulouse.
The Renaissance portal is Nicolas Bachelier's work, it is said "vermiculate" because it was fashionable to age artificially the sculptured object by feigning holes and galleries of worms, ostentatious signs of the passage of time intended to mark the obstinacy of the constructed building. Of course now that this portal is almost 500 years old, it became really old 



























In the building of the film library, we find a funny fresco of the 1920s proclaming: " Let us group together and tomorrow The Internationale Will be the human race. "


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 49, a court(yard) was decorated with floral and animal motives:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 38, the Mazzoli mansion (19th c), former college of Maguelonne (the University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe, and thus there were many colleges in the middle-ages):


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Notre-Dame-du-Taur (14th c.):









In n°8, Bernard Aymès mansion (16ème c):


















_Ne te quaesiveris extra_ ("Do not seek outside yourself"):


----------



## danmartin1985 (Mar 5, 2012)

I think this city is great to explore at ground level and would give you a different kind of experience of living back in time.


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

Lovely Toulouse.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Rue des Lois (street of the Laws) sheltered some formerly colleges.



























In n°34, two beautiful gates open on the former college of Esquile.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The courtyard:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In 17, an odd stone "pillar" is decorated with scenes of the everyday life:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In n°15, at the bottom of a courtyard, is the chapter room of the former convent of the Franciscans.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

In the nearby street Rue Deville, a beautiful mansion :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The street Gramat doesn't much have to show from an architectural point of view, but it counts some "artistic" tags:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

And then here is the Saint-Sernin square, dominated by the big church of the same name, jewel of the Romanic architecture. I won't show much of it, as we have ever seen it.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Several bas-reliefs value the Work: the baker, the sculptor, the iron craftsman, the writer, the gatherer of fruits, the carpenter and the union activist!


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

the Saint-Raymond museum (yet seen), which building was built in 1523 :


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Here is the Dubarry mansion, with a little commonplace history and now part of a high school :









The outside does not seem like much, but the inside is more interesting:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Jean-Baptiste Dubarry, nicknamed " the sly ", served as go-between with king Louis XV (ageing and depressive after the death of his favorite madam of Pompadour) and Jeanne Bécu, magnificent young woman of low extraction who had to cheer up the last years of king.
At this time the rules in the court required that the favorite of king was noble and married. Never mind, Jean-Baptiste Dubarry married his younger brother, Guillaume, a local country squire of province, with Jeanne Bécu who became by there " countess of du Barry ".
Recognizing of services provided, Louis XV made the fortune of both brothers, who turned around in Toulouse where Jean-Baptiste built this mansion.
Since a few years a repair - not still finished - returns little by little its luster to the mansion:


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)




----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

The Benedictines who had occupied the mansion after 1817 destroyed or masked several "courteous" paintings. In this room which served as girls' dormitory, this ceiling was fortunately covered with wallpaper and not destroyed, favor maybe at the head of Flora that they had left visible by a "small window" and of which they said to their young boarders that it was the head of the Virgin.


----------



## openlyJane (Feb 3, 2010)

I enjoyed those pictures. Thanks.

I think Toulouse is just beautiful.


----------



## marcus landus (Sep 18, 2013)

*superbe travail*

The first time I came to Toulouse (from Paris), I was surprised to discover an “exotic” town, very different from any town I knew in France. It was tempting to link it to something else, and the obvious option was Italy, first of all because of the material (the brick is widely used in places like Venice or Roma , and even more in the red cities of Bologna and Ferrara), secondly because of the wealth in old architecture and art (the medieval heritage of Toulouse is stunning, despite of so many destructions in the 19th century, and the renaissance heritage is unmatched in all of France).
But unlike Nice, Toulouse doesn’t belong to the Italian cultural realm. She is deeply rooted in her own land and history. The style of Toulouse buildings can only be found in the surrounding villages and old towns of Montauban and Albi. 

As a big lover of the old Toulouse, I watched every picture with delight: this is simply the most complete description of old Toulouse I have seen.

Many of the spots here are little known by the Toulouse inhabitants and many are real discoveries for me (like the 16th century frescoes in the remote church “les Minimes” or this old column in the public finances building “rue des Lois”). 

Furthermore a part of the old Toulouse shown here, is hidden behind doors and gates, privately own or used for activities not relative to tourism. 
Even concerning the tourist monuments, it is difficult to see that much (I never managed to climb like you the first floor in Saint Sernin, or to go inside the choir of Saint Pierre).

These pictures also reveal a very good eye (how many times did I walk in “rue Tripieres” without ever notice these lovely small rabbits on the wall !).

In one sentence: this is more than a picture thread, this is in my view a “serious” achievement intended to art lovers.

Grazie mille !


----------



## aljuarez (Mar 16, 2005)

Great updates!


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Thank you for your kind comments.
I'll show more soon, I hope.


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Hi, here is a five minutes clip I made with some of the pictures I used on this thread:


----------



## mattie! (Dec 2, 2008)

I was fortunate enough to stay in Castanet-Tolosan for around a month during European summer. Such a gorgeous city, far exceeded my expectations. Going through this thread is a great reminder of why I loved this city and the surrounds so much.

Quick question in relation to the churches. It seems as though they have started stripping back the blue/star covered ceilings? Is there any particular reason for this, I was fairly disappointed.


----------



## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Great, very nice photos from Toulouse


----------



## Pistolero (May 19, 2011)

Hi mattie, 
I do not know about what you're talking, do you know the name of the church you're thinking to ?


----------



## cameronpaul (Jan 15, 2010)

Wonderful photos of beautiful Toulouse a city that a lot of tourists to France overlook. I love French towns/architecture- unlike so many in the U.K. that are grey and have far too many cheap spec. modern buildings that ruin the cityscape.


----------

