TheUniversity of Toulouse is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229). Toulouse is also the home of prestigious higher education schools, notably in the field of aerospace engineering. Together with the university, they have turned Toulouse into the fourth-largest student city in France, with a university population of nearly 140,000 students.[13]
Toulouse counts threeUNESCOWorld Heritage Sites: theCanal du Midi (designated in 1996 and shared with other cities), and theBasilica of St. Sernin, the largest remaining Romanesque building in Europe,[14] designated in 1998 along with the former hospital Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques because of their significance to theSantiago de Compostela pilgrimage route. The city's unique architecture made of pinkishterracotta bricks has earned Toulouse the nicknameLa Ville rose ("The Pink city").[15][16]
Toulouse is in the south of France, north of the department of Haute-Garonne, on the axis of communication between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is about 80 km from the Pyrenees and the borders with Andorra and Spain.
View of thePyrenees from Toulouse (at a distance of around 80 kilometers, the mountains are visible by clear weather)
The remains of the Roman wall in Toulouse illustrate the early use of brick and stone in construction.The martyrdom of Saint SaturninIn the 5th century, Toulouse was the capital of a vastVisigothic Kingdom that stretched fromthe Loire toGibraltar.
The Garonne Valley was a central point for trade between the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic since at least theIron Age. The historical name of the city,Tolosa (Τολῶσσα inGreek, and of its inhabitants, theTolosates, first recorded in the 2nd century BC), is of unknown meaning or origin, possibly fromAquitanian orIberian,[20] but it has also been connected to the name of theGaulishVolcae Tectosages,[21] or to thesame root as Irishtulach or Welshtwlch, (little hill).
Toulouse refounded by the Romans on the banks of the Garonne
Tolosa enters the historical period in the 2nd century BC, when it became aRoman military outpost. After the conquest ofGaul, it was developed as a Roman city inGallia Narbonensis. Under the reign of EmperorAugustus and thanks to thePax Romana, the Romans moved the city a few kilometres from the hills where it was anoppidum to the banks of the Garonne, which were more suitable for trade.[22]
In the second half of the 1st century, the emperorDomitian distinguished Toulouse by placing it under the patronage of the goddessPallas Athena, so that the Latin poetsMartial,Ausonius andSidonius Apollinaris called the cityPalladia Tolosa (Palladian Toulouse), a term that was still used in the Renaissance and even today when the city is presented as propitious to the arts and letters.[22]
Around the year 250, Toulouse was marked by the martyrdom ofSaturnin, the first bishop of Toulouse. This episode illustrates the difficult beginnings of Christianity in Roman Gaul.[22]
In the 5th century, Toulouse fell to theVisigothic kingdom and became one of its major cities, even serving as itscapital, before it fell to theFranks underClovis in 507 during theBattle of Vouillé.[22] From that time, Toulouse was the capital ofAquitaine within the Frankish realm.[23]
In 721,Duke Odo ofAquitaine defeated an invadingUmayyadMuslim army at theBattle of Toulouse. Many Arab chroniclers consider that Odo's victory was the real stop to Muslim expansion intoChristian Europe, incursions of the following years being simple raids without real will of conquest (including the one that ended withCharles Martel's victory at theBattle of Tours, also called the Battle of Poitiers).[22][24]
Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse was a leader of theFirst Crusade.St Dominic's room atMaison Seilhan is considered the birthplace of theDominican Order.Burial ofSaint Thomas Aquinas in thechurch of the Jacobins in ToulouseOver nearly 5 centuries thecapitouls (the municipal consuls) held an exceptional collection of their portraits in themunicipal annals.Painting representing the first session of the poetry contest of theConsistori del Gay Saber (later known as the Academy of the Floral Games), the oldest literary society in EuropeTheParlement of Toulouse was the second most important and oldest in the kingdom after that of Paris, making Toulouse the judicial capital of a large part of southern France.The woad trade, which was the only source of blue dye at the time in Europe, made the fortune of the merchants of Toulouse during the Renaissance.1650 - Toulouse, capital ofLanguedocThe vast Hall of the Illustrious (Salle des Illustres) in theCapitole presents numerous paintings and sculptures illustrating the history of Toulouse.
Charlemagne had created the county of Toulouse in 778 to guard the border of Muslim Spain, but the disintegration of the kingdom of Aquitaine and the weakness of royal power in the following centuries led to thede facto independence of the county of Toulouse and many provinces.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, southern France was still steeped in Latin culture. Unlike the north of France, justice followed written Roman law and the nobles were highly educated. This was the time of thetroubadours who wrote their poetry inOccitan (called "Provençal" at the time), then one of the most sophisticated languages in Europe. Like the other great lords of theMidi, the counts of Toulouse maintained and favoured these poets, this is how CountRaymond V employed for some time the famousBernard de Ventadour, expert in singingcourtly love.[25]
In 1096,Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, left with his army at the call of thePope Urban II to join theFirst Crusade, of which he was one of the main leaders.[22][26] This exodus of its warriors and nobles, reinforced by the creation of the farawayCounty of Tripoli by Raymond IV at the beginning of the 12th century, weakened the city militarily as well as the ascendancy that its counts had over it. The DukeWilliam IX of Aquitaine challenged the possession of the city on the grounds that it should have been inherited by his wifePhilippa (daughter of theprevious count of Toulouse, whereas Raymond IV was only his brother). More than 50 years later his granddaughterEleanor of Aquitaine still claimed the inheritance in vain.[22]
In the 12th century the city left its Roman limits and a new district developed around thechurch of Saint-Sernin: theBourg. The church of Saint-Sernin was famous and revered for its many relics, and the chapter of its canons, which had possessions as far away as Spain, was powerful enough to free itself from the control of the bishop of Toulouse. This dissent had important local political repercussions, making theBourg in practice a separate district from the city. In 1152, the notables of Toulouse took advantage of a weakening of the county power to obtain for their city a great autonomy, they created a municipal body of consuls, calledcapitouls in Toulouse, to lead the city. TheBourg, which had only a quarter of the inhabitants of Toulouse, obtained as many capitouls as the rest of the city.[22] Economically, Toulouse, which was at the center of a large cereal-growing plain, was distinguished by its numerous mills that took advantage of the force of the Garonne, among which theBazacle Milling Company was the first recorded European joint-stock company.
The fight against Catharism and its various aspects
At the beginning of the thirteenth century the County of Toulouse was caught up inanother crusade that would last twenty years (1209-1229), of which it was the target this time. The reason for this was the development ofCatharism in the south of France, which thePope Innocent III wanted to eradicate by all possible means.[22]
After an initial victory of the crusaders led bySimon de Montfort who defeated the combined forces of CountRaymond VI of Toulouse and KingPeter II of Aragon at theBattle of Muret, the following years saw the fate of the county of Toulouse swing alternately in favour of one party or the other. Finally, a late intervention by KingLouis VIII of France in 1226 tipped the balance in favour of the crusaders, resulting in the submission of CountRaymond VII to the French Crown and the end of the independence of the County of Toulouse.[22]
But beyond the military crusade, this struggle took on several important aspects for the city of Toulouse:
TheDominican Order was founded in Toulouse bySaint Dominic in 1215. Spanish priest Dominic de Guzmán wanted to convert the Cathars to Catholicism peacefully, by preaching and by living a poor and exemplary life. After years of criss-crossing theLauraguais countryside between Carcassonne and Toulouse, he changed his method and decided to preach in town. In 1215 he settled in Toulouse and founded amendicant order which, within a few decades, would cover Europe with hundreds of convents: The Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans.[22]
Under the impulse of the bishop of Toulouse,Foulques, an original and austere architectural style was born in Toulouse, designed to break with the display of luxury of the Catholic church which drove the faithful towards the Cathars: theSouthern French Gothic.[22]
Another consequence of the Treaty of Paris was the creation of theUniversity of Toulouse, established on theParisian model, strongly sponsored by the pope and intended as a means to dissolve the heretic movement.[22][27]
Also in 1229, theCouncil of Toulouse was held, which laid the foundations for the long period ofInquisition that was to eradicate Catharism in the region after the military victory of the Crusade.[22]
In 1271, Joan of Toulouse and her husband Alphonse of Poitiers died without heirs. Toulouse, which since the treaty of 1229 had been subordinate to thekingdom of France, no longer had a count and was annexed tothe royal domain.[22] The installation of numerous royal officers and the development of trade and crafts, which favoured the social ascension of merchants, renewed the city's elites. In 1298,King Philip the Fair greatly facilitated the possibility of ennobling the capitouls, whose council, renewed every year, was increasingly made up of rich merchants.[22]
The first half of the 14th century was a prosperous period, despite the dismemberment in 1317 of the very large bishopric of Toulouse (which lost two thirds of its area and a large part of its income, a loss only partially compensated by its elevation to the rank of archbishopric), and the episode of theShepherds' Crusade which brought apogrom against Toulouse's Jewish population in 1320.[22][28] In 1335, Toulouse had between 35,000 and 40,000 inhabitants.[22]
In 1323, theConsistori del Gay Saber was created in Toulouse to preserve thelyric art of thetroubadours by organizing a poetry contest; and Toulouse became the centre ofOccitan literary culture for the following centuries. TheConsistori is considered to be the oldest literary society in Europe, at the origin of one of the most sophisticatedtreatise on grammar and rhetoric of the Middle Ages, and in 1694 it was transformed into the Royal Academy of theFloral Games (Académie des Jeux Floraux), still active today, by kingLouis XIV.[22]
The 14th century also saw a significant increase in the influence of the University of Toulouse, particularly following the move of the papacy from Rome to Avignon. Many law graduates from the University of Toulouse had brilliant careers in theAvignon curia, several became cardinals and three became popes:John XXII,Innocent VI andUrban V. These powerful prelates financed the establishment of colleges in the university towns of southern France, not only Toulouse but also Montpellier, Cahors and Avignon.[29]
TheBlack Death in 1348, then theHundred Years' War caused a major crisis that lasted until the following century.[22] Despite strong immigration, the population lost more than 10,000 inhabitants in 70 years. By 1405 Toulouse had only 19,000 people.[30] In these hardships, the city was the key stronghold of the French defence in the south of France during the worst years of the Hundred Years' War, when the English troops from Aquitaine had taken Montauban and only Toulouse remained as an obstacle to their conquest of southern France. This military threat to the city and especially to the surrounding countryside was not conducive to its development, despite the strengthening of ties with the royalty that it entailed.[22]
In 1369, popeUrban V attributed to the Dominican church of theJacobins of Toulouse the bones of the Dominican theologianSaint Thomas Aquinas, perhaps to honor the city that had been the cradle of the Dominican order at the beginning of the previous century.[22]
The political and economic situation improved by the middle of the 15th century.[31] In 1443 KingCharles VII established the secondparlement of France after that of Paris. Reinforcing its place as an administrative and judicial center, the city grew richer, participating in the trade ofBordeaux wine with England, as well as cereals and textiles. A major source of income was the production and export ofpastel, a blue dye made fromwoad.[32]
Toulouse suffered several fires, but it was in 1463 that the Great Fire of Toulouse broke out, ravaging the city for fifteen days. After this dramatic event, King Louis XIII exempted the city from taxes for 100 years. The capitouls issued municipal decrees favouring the use of brick in buildings, rather than excessively flammable wood or cob.[22]
In the 16th century, and until 1562, the economy of Toulouse experienced a golden age: its parlement made it the judicial capital of a large part of southern France, and the city became the first European centre for the trade in woad, the only blue dye then known in Europe which was very much in demand in the textile industry at the time. Its humanist milieu developed thanks to its university and parlement, which trained and attracted intellectual elites. The wealth generated by this culturally and economically dynamic environment is the source of the superbRenaissance mansions in Toulouse. In 1550 the population of the city made it the second or third largest city in France. It was estimated to have 50,000 inhabitants, a figure it would not regain until the 18th century.[22][33]
In 1666,Pierre-Paul Riquet started the construction of theCanal du Midi which links Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea, and is considered one of the greatest construction works of the 17th century. Completed in 1681, the canal stimulated the economy of Toulouse by promoting the export of cereals and the import of olive oil, wine and other goods from the Mediterranean regions.[22]
In the 18th century, Toulouse was a provincial capital that prided itself on its royal academies (the only city in France, along with Paris, to have three royal academies), but sometimes seemed far removed from the debates of ideas that agitated theEnlightenment.[22][34] A famous example illustrates this backwardness of Toulouse mentalities of the time: in 1762 its powerful parlement sentencedJean Calas to death. The philosopherVoltaire then accused the Parlement of Toulouse of religious intolerance (Calas was a Huguenot), gave the affair a European repercussion and succeeded in having the judgment of the parlement quashed by the King's Council, which did much damage to the reputation of the parlement. It was on this occasion that Voltaire published one of his major philosophical works: his famousTreatise on Tolerance.
With theFrench Revolution of 1789 and the reform or suppression of all royal institutions, Toulouse lost much of its power and influence: until then the capital of the vast province of Languedoc, with a parlement ruling over an even larger territory, the city then found itself simply at the head of the single small department ofHaute-Garonne.[22]
On 10 April 1814, four days afterNapoleon's surrender of theFrench Empire to the nations of theSixth Coalition (a fact that the two armies involved were not yet aware of), theBattle of Toulouse pitted the Hispanic-British troops of Field MarshalWellington against the French troops of Napoleonic MarshalSoult, who, although they managed to resist, were forced to withdraw. Toulouse was thus the scene of the last Franco-British battle on French territory.[35]
Unlike most large French cities, there was no real industrial revolution in 19th century Toulouse.[citation needed] The most important industries were the gunpowder factory, to meet military needs, and the tobacco factory. In 1856 the railway arrived in Toulouse and the city was modernised: the ramparts were replaced by large boulevards, and major avenues such as therue d'Alsace-Lorraine and therue de Metz opened up the historic centre.
In 1875, a flood of the Garonne devastated more than 1,000 houses and killed 200 people. It also destroyed all the bridges in Toulouse, except thePont-Neuf.[36]
The epic of l'Aéropostale has written some of the most beautiful pages in the history of aviation in Toulouse.
World War I brought to Toulouse (geographically sheltered from enemy attacks) chemical industries as well as aviation workshops (Latécoère,Dewoitine), which launched the city's aeronautical construction tradition and gave birth after the war to the famousAéropostale, a pioneering airmail company based in Toulouse and whose epics were popularised by the novels of writers such asJoseph Kessel andAntoine de Saint-Exupéry (himself anAéropostale pilot).[37][38]
In the 1920s and 1930s the rise of the Toulouse population was increased by the arrival of Italians and Spaniards fleeing the fascist regimes of their country. Then, in the early 1960s,French repatriates fromAlgeria swelled the city's population.[38]
In 1963, Toulouse was chosen to become one of the country's eight "balancing Metropolis", regaining a position among the country's major cities that it had always had, but lost in the 19th century. The French state then encouraged the city's specialisation in aeronautics and space activities, sectors that had experienced strong growth in recent decades, fueling economic and population growth.[38]
On 21 September 2001, anexplosion occurred at the AZF fertiliser factory, causing 31 deaths, about 30 seriously wounded and 2,500 light casualties. The blast measured 3.4 on theRichter scale and the explosion was heard 80 km (50 mi) away.[38][39]
In 2016, a territorial reform made Toulouse the regionalprefecture ofOccitanie, the second largest region in metropolitan France, giving it a role commensurate with its past as a provincial capital among the most important in France.[38]
The population of the city proper (French:commune) was 511,684 as of January 2022, with 1,513,396 inhabitants in themetropolitan area,[2] up from 1,268,438 at the January 2009 census.[42] Thus, the metropolitan area registered a population growth rate of +1.63% per year between 2009 and 2021, the third-highest growth rate of any French metropolitan area larger than 500,000 inhabitants in France, afterMontpellier andBordeaux, although it was slightly lower than the growth rate registered between the 1990 and 2009 censuses. Toulouse is the fourth most populated city in France, afterParis,Marseille andLyon, and the fifth most populated metropolitan area after Paris, Lyon, Marseille, andLille. During the next census 2023 or 2024, the city of Toulouse should become the 3rd most populous city in France ahead of Lyon because its growth is stronger.
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.
Fueled by booming aerospace and high-tech industries, the Toulouse metropolitan area's population grew by 57.3% between the 1990 and 2020 censuses (within its 2020 borders), which means +1.52% per year on average during those 30 years, compared with a growth of 15.3% formetropolitan France between 1990 and 2020, i.e. +0.48% per year. This was the second-highest population growth of any French metropolitan area larger than 500,000 inhabitants (only theMontpellier metropolitan area grew more than Toulouse between 1990 and 2019).
The Toulouse metropolitan area reached 1,513,396 inhabitants in January 2022, and stood as the 5th most populated metropolitan area in France, behind the metropolitan areas of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Lille, but ahead of the metropolitan area of Bordeaux, which the Toulouse metropolitan area passed in population in the 1990s. During the next census 2023, the metropolitan area of Toulouse will become the 4th most populous in France ahead of Lille because its growth is stronger.
A local Jewish group estimates there are about 2,500 Jewish families in Toulouse.[45] A Muslim association has estimated there are some 35,000 Muslims in town.[46]
The Community of Agglomeration of Greater Toulouse (Communauté d'agglomération du Grand Toulouse) was created in 2001 to better coordinate transport, infrastructure and economic policies between the city of Toulouse and its immediate independent suburbs. It succeeds a previous district which had been created in 1992 with fewer powers than the current council. It combines the city of Toulouse and 24 independentcommunes, covering an area of 380 km2 (147 sq mi), totalling a population of 583,229 inhabitants (as of 1999 census), 67% of whom live in the city of Toulouse proper. As of February 2004 estimate, the total population of the Community of Agglomeration of Greater Toulouse was 651,209 inhabitants, 65.5% of whom live in the city of Toulouse. Due to local political feuds, the Community of Agglomeration only hosts 61% of the population of the metropolitan area, the other independent suburbs having refused to join in. Since 2009, the Community of agglomeration has become an urban community (in French: communauté urbaine). This has become amétropole in 2015, spanning 37 communes with 806,503 inhabitants in 2020 census.[48]
One of the major political figures in Toulouse wasDominique Baudis, themayor of Toulouse between 1983 and 2001, member of the centristUDF.[49] First known as a journalist known for his coverage of the war inLebanon, 36-year-old Dominique Baudis succeeded his fatherPierre Baudis in 1983 as mayor of Toulouse. (Pierre Baudis was mayor from 1971 to 1983.)
Baudis tried to strengthen the international role of Toulouse (such as itsAirbus operations), as well as revive the cultural heritage of the city. The Occitan cross, flag ofLanguedoc and symbol of the counts of Toulouse, was chosen as the new flag of the city, instead of the traditional coat of arms of Toulouse (which included thefleur de lis of the French monarchy). Many cultural institutions were created, in order to attract foreign expatriates and emphasise the city's past. For example, monuments dating from the time of thecounts of Toulouse were restored, the city's symphonic concert hall (Halle aux Grains) was refurbished, a city theater was built, a Museum of Modern Art was founded, theBemberg Foundation (European paintings andbronzes from theRenaissance to the 20th century) was established, a huge pop music concert venue (Zénith, the largest in France outside Paris) was built, the space museum and educational parkCité de l'Espace was founded, etc.
To deal with growth, major housing and transportation projects were launched. Line A of theunderground was opened in 1993, and line B opened in 2007. The creation of a system of underground car parking structures in Toulouse city centre was sharply criticised by theGreen Party.[50]
In 2000, Dominique Baudis was at the zenith of his popularity, with approval rates of 85%.[citation needed] He announced that he would not run for a fourth (6-year) term in 2001. He explained that with 3 terms he was already the longest-serving mayor of Toulouse since theFrench Revolution; he felt that change would be good for the city, and that the number of terms should be limited. He endorsedPhilippe Douste-Blazy, thenUDF mayor ofLourdes as his successor. Baudis has since been appointed president of the CSA (Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel) in Paris, the French equivalent of the AmericanFCC.
Philippe Douste-Blazy narrowly won in the 2001 elections, which saw the left making its best showing in decades. Douste-Blazy had to deal with a reinvigorated political opposition, as well as with the dramatic explosion of theAZF plant in late 2001.
In March 2004, he entered the national government, and left Toulouse in the hands of his second-in-commandJean-Luc Moudenc, elected mayor by the municipal council. In March 2008, Moudenc was defeated by the Socialist Party's candidatePierre Cohen.
At the next elections in 2014 Moudenc defeated Cohen in a rematch to re-take the job with more than 52% of the votes, and he was re-elected with almost the same score in 2020.
Format differences between a "foraine" brick and a standard brick
Classified "City of Art and History", Toulouse has a very rich architectural heritage ranging from large Romanesque and Gothic churches to neo-classical facades such as that of the Capitole, to the prestigious mansions of the Renaissance. This ancient heritage is mainly enclosed within the 220 hectares of the city's inner boulevard (one of the largest protected urban areas in France).[citation needed]
Almost all the buildings of the historical centre were made with the traditional building material of the region: the "foraine" brick that has earned the city the nickname ofVille rose (Pink city). Medieval heir to theRoman brick, the "foraine" brick is characterised by its large dimensions, its flat appearance and its colour ranging from orange/pink to red.[51]
White stone is also present in smaller quantities. As there were no stone quarries near Toulouse, it was transported from thePyrenees via the Garonne river and was for a long time rare and therefore expensive, considered in Toulouse as a luxury material.[citation needed] However, it is enough to give Toulouse's architecture one of its characteristics: red/white polychromy.[citation needed]
Remains of a Romanesque brick wall in theJardin des Plantes
The Romanesque architecture of Toulouse is largely dominated by the presence of the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, one of the most important churches of its time in Europe, and fortunate enough to keep its Romanesque character virtually intact.
Basilica of Saint-Sernin, part of theWay of Saint JamesUNESCO World Heritage Site, was also in itself a major place of pilgrimage. It is one of the two largest survivingRomanesque churches in Europe.[note 1] With more than two hundred relics (including that ofSaint Saturnin who gave his name to the church), many of which were donated byCharlemagne to the shrine that preceded the present church, Saint-Sernin is the church with the most relics after Saint Peter of Rome.[52]
Conceived from the outset as a gigantic reliquary, the church was mainly built at the end of the 11th century and at the beginning of the 12th century to welcome the crowds of pilgrims, its double-sided aisles and the ambulatory surrounding the apse make it the archetype of the great pilgrimage church, where pilgrims could make the circuit around the church and were able to stop for meditation and prayer at the apsidal chapels of the transept and the radiating chapels of the choir. The church is also particularly noteworthy for the quality of its Romanesque sculptures, including numerous capitals and the historiated tympanum of the Miègeville gate, one of the first of its kind.[53]
Basilica of Saint-Sernin
Basilica of Saint-Sernin
The east side is the oldest part.
Romanesque tympanum of Miègeville gate (late 11th c. or early 12th c.)
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Catholic clergy of the South of France, seeing a growing number of the faithful turning to theCatharism which advocated a more pious austerity, showed the will to correct the defects of the Catholic Church which indulged in luxury. Under the impulse of the bishop of Toulouse,Foulques, an austere and militant architectural style was born with the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Toulouse: theSouthern French Gothic. Conceived according to an ideal of poverty and humility to bring the faithful together in a single, vast nave to facilitate preaching, this architectural style then developed during the 13th century in the grandmendicant convents of the city, before spreading in the 14th century to a large number of churches and cathedrals in the region.[54]
Several churches or convents in Toulouse belong to this architectural trend, but two of them are particularly symbolic and remarkable:
Cathedral of Saint-Étienne (Saint Stephen) is the seat of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse. Its construction, which was mainly done at the beginning and then at the end of the 13th century, reflects the history of this decisive century which saw the city lose its independence to become a French city. The single nave is the first example of Southern French Gothic, at 19 metres wide it probably was at its completion the widest in Western Europe (1210-1220). The higher choir that adjoins it was built in the Gothic style of northern France shortly after the city became part of the Crown of France in 1271.[54]
Convent of the Jacobins (13th century / early 14th century) was the Dominican convent of Toulouse and is considered to be, together with theAlbi Cathedral, the pinnacle of Southern French Gothic architecture.[55] Like all Southern French Gothic churches it has a deliberately austere exterior, but on the inside its alignment of cylindrical columns form one of the tallest colonnades ever erected in Gothic architecture (28 metres high).[53] The masterpiece of this church is the column that closes the choir (1275-1292), its palm tree shape was a hundred years ahead of the flamboyant gothicfan vaults.[55] Because he thought that the bones ofSaint Thomas Aquinas deserved «the most beautiful and most splendid surroundings»,[53] in 1368Pope Urban V made the church of the Jacobins the burial place of the famous Dominican friar, one of the most notable philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages.
Southern French Gothic religious architecture
Toulouse cathedral
Southern French Gothic nave and northern Gothic choir
Church of the Jacobins, exterior (13th c.)
The vault of the Jacobins and its famous palm tree
Cloister (14th c.) and bell tower (1298) of the Jacobins
Toulouse has preserved about thirty Gothic stair towers (plus a dozen Renaissance or later towers),[56] the remains of private mansions (calledhôtels particuliers) from the Middle Ages and the early 16th century. Often hidden in courtyards, some of these towers are high enough to exceed their function of serving the floors and display the ambition of their owners.
At a time when most of the houses in Toulouse were built in wood orcob, the brick construction of these towers andhôtels also testifies to their quality.
Gothic civil architecture
Séguy tower, 1477
Boysson tower, 1478
Delfau tower, 1497
Lancefoc tower (late 15th c.) and Serta tower (1529)
In the 16th century, Toulouse experienced a golden age coinciding with the Renaissance in France. Thewoad trade (pastel) brought merchants of international stature to the city, and theParlement of Toulouse made the city the judicial capital of a large part of the south of France. These wealthy elites had private mansions built, remarkable for their architecture inspired by architectural treatises such as those ofSerlio,Alberti orVitruvius, but also by the royal castles of theLoire Valley and theÎle-de-France.[33]
Renowned for the quality of their architecture, the private mansions of the Toulouse Renaissance that have survived to the present day were built over more than a century (around 1515–1620) by reputed architects such as Louis Privat,Nicolas Bachelier, Dominique Bachelier orPierre Souffron. The most famous of thesehôtels are those ofAssézat,Bernuy,Vieux-Raisin orClary...[33]
TheFrench Wars of Religion, which started in the second half of the 16th century, brought to the city many religious orders who came to seek asylum in this solid Catholic bastion. They had baroque churches built in the 17th century: among them, theOrder of Carthusians, expelled by the Huguenots from the region of Castres, founded the church of Saint-Pierre des Chartreux, the order of theDiscalced Carmelites built the church of Saint-Exupère, theblue penitents founded the church of Saint-Jérôme and the order ofCarmelite nuns created a convent of which a remarkable painted chapel remains.
After the Renaissance, the decorations in civil architecture became less numerous and ostentatious, due to the importance given to the moderation of the architectural structures and the development of interior decorations. The play of colours (between brick and stone) and reliefs (bossing) were less costly and nevertheless effective solutions for livening up facades. The 17th century is the century that gave Toulouse the largest number of its private mansions, most of them built by members of parlement.[57]
In the 18th century Toulouse made its living from its parlement and from the wheat and corn trade, which was boosted by the creation of theCanal du Midi at the end of the previous century. Among the major architectural achievements, the most notable were undoubtedly the construction of the quays of the Garonne and the new facade of theCapitole (1750-1760), designed by architectGuillaume Cammas.
In the last third of the 18th century, the ever increasing influence of the Parisian model meant that red brick was no longer popular: the city facades were then whitewashed to imitate stone. This is why nowadays, even though the white paint has generally been removed, there are walls with deep grooves carved in brick to imitate ashlar architecture.
Toulouse's 19th century architecture can be divided into three periods, which sometimes overlapped. In the first half of the century, at the instigation of architect Jacques-Pascal Virebent, the main architecturally unified squares were created: thePlace du Capitole and thePlace Wilson (calledplace Villeneuve when it was built), whose uniform architecture was inspired byRue de Rivoli in Paris.
From 1830 onwards, Auguste Virebent and his brothers (sons of Jacques-Pascal) developed a factory of low-cost moulded decorations which met with great success and adorned Toulouse facades with numerous terracotta ornaments, far from the austere architecture of their father.
Then, in the last third of the 19th century, large Haussmann-style avenues were opened in the town centre, such as the central Alsace-Lorraine street, built in yellow brick to imitate Parisian stone.
19th century architecture
Place du Capitole, the main square of Toulouse (19th c.)
Place du Capitole (Café Bibent)
Facade with moulded terracotta decorations (19th c.)
Facade with moulded terracotta decorations (19th c.)
From the middle of the 19th century, the arrival of the railway in Toulouse facilitated the supply of stone and made it cheaper for construction, and architects did not hesitate to play on the old traditional Toulouse codes linked to the prestige of stone construction, even if these no longer had the economic justification of yesteryear. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, the main railway station was built entirely in white stone.
Subsequently, concrete replaced the traditional materials, but brick and stone were still used for cladding, as shown recently by the work of prestigious architects such asRobert Venturi andDenise Scott Brown for the seat of the departmental council, orShelley McNamara andYvonne Farrell for the Toulouse School of Economics building.
20th and 21st centuries architecture
Toulouse-Matabiau station, 1905
Art nouveau facade, Gambetta street (early 20th c.)
Numerous parks and green spaces line the Garonne in the heart of Toulouse.
The banks of theGaronne river offer an interesting urban panorama of the city. Red brick dykes from the 18th century enclose the river which was subject to destructive floods. ThePont-Neuf took almost a century to build as the project was so ambitious (1545-1632). It was a very modern bridge for its time, removing the housing on the deck and using techniques such as lowered arches, openings in the piers and stacked spouts to spread the water, making it the only bridge in Toulouse to withstand the violent floods of the past. Further downstream, theBazacle is a ford across theGaronne river, in the 12th century theBazacle Milling Company was the first recorded European joint-stock company. On the left bank of the river, historically a flood-prone bank, stand two former hospitals whose origins date back to the 12th century: the Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques and theHôpital de La Grave. Isolated on the left bank, victims of the plague and other sick people were thus kept away from the city by the width of the river.
Built at the end of the 17th century, theCanal du Midi bypasses the city centre and has linked Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea ever since. Its 240 kilometres were inscribed as a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in 1996.
TheJardin des Plantes, theGrand Rond and theJardin Royal form a set of adjacent parks that span several blocks and include the Museum of Natural History, cafés, children's activities and abotanical garden (18th-19th century). ThePrairie des Filtres, the Raymond VI garden and the Japanese garden are other interesting parks that border the center of Toulouse.
Banks of the Garonne, Canal du Midi, parks
Pont-Neuf (16th-17th c.)
Red brick dykes from the 18th century
Quays of the Garonne andPont-Neuf
Hôtel-Dieu Saint-Jacques former hospital (12th–19th c.)
La Grave former hospital (12th–19th c.) and the copper dome of its chapel
Port de la Daurade, a former river port converted into a recreational area
Raymond VI garden, at the foot of the last remains of the old Toulouse ramparts on the left bank
Musée Saint-Raymond is the archeological museum of Toulouse, located in a former college of the university it presents the ancient history of Toulouse and a very rich collection of Roman sculptures from the imperialRoman villa of Chiragan.
Musée Paul Dupuy is the museum of Decorative Arts and Graphic Arts, including a very rich collection of clocks and watches.
Musée Georges Labit is dedicated to artifacts from the Far-Eastern and Ancient Egyptian civilizations.
Muséum de Toulouse is one of the most important natural history museums in France, housed in the former convent of the Discalced Carmelites.
Les Abattoirs is the museum of modern and contemporary art of the city, opened in a former municipal slaughterhouse.
Toulouse also has several theme parks, notably highlighting its aeronautical and space heritage:
Cité de l'espace is a scientific discovery centre focused on spaceflight.
Aeroscopia is an aeronautical theme park located nearToulouse–Blagnac Airport, dedicated to the preservation of aeronautical historical heritage (it hosts for example twoConcorde airliners).
Halle de La Machine is a vast hall that houses numerous small or giant animated machines, often inspired by the world of aeronautics, human or technological epics.
Global headquarters of Airbus at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport
Since 2003, Toulouse has been the French city with the fastest growing GDP per capita, a performance driven by growing high-tech industries.[58]
Toulouse economy can rely on three pillars: large industrial companies, research laboratories and a huge pool of students, engineers and scientists. Indeed, Toulouse is home to the second largest research and education centre in France, it has a high quality of education, first class engineering schools, powerful industries supported by world leaders, such as Airbus or Thales Alenia for aeronautics and space. This ecosystem fosters innovation in fields such as artificial intelligence, IOT, robotics, avionics, embedded systems, biotechnology, health etc.[59]
Toulouse can particularly be described as the 'capital' of the European aerospace industry: it hosts theAirbus headquarters and assembly-lines of AirbusA320,A330, andA350. TheA380 was also produced here (the last completed in 2021), as was theConcorde supersonic aircraft.[60][61] Toulouse also hosts the headquarters ofATR, one of the two headquarters ofLiebherr Aerospace andGroupe Latécoère. As for the space industry, with 12,000 jobs, 400 companies and 25% of the European workforce, Toulouse is the main European hub.[62]
TheUniversity of Toulouse (Université de Toulouse) was established in 1229 (now split into three separate universities). Like the universities inOxford and Paris, the University of Toulouse was established at a time when Europeans were starting to translate the writings of Arabs of Andalus and Greek philosophers. These writings challenged European ideology—inspiring scientific discoveries and advances in the arts—as society began seeing itself in a new way. These colleges were supported by the Church, in hopes of reconciling Greek philosophy and Christian theology.[citation needed]
Line A of theToulouse MetroTéléo, the cable car of ToulouseToulouse public transport map that shows metro lines, tram lines and the high-level bus network called Lineo
The main railway station, with regional and national services, isToulouse-Matabiau station. In addition, there are several smaller stations in the city:Toulouse-Saint-Agne,Gallieni-Cancéropôle,Toulouse-Saint-Cyprien-Arènes, Le TOEC, Lardenne, Saint-Martin-du-Touch, Les Ramassiers, Montaudran and Lacourtensourt. The stations of Lalande-L'Eglise and Route-de-Launaguet were served until 2016.
All urban bus, metro and tram services are operated byTisséo. In addition to an extensive bus system (145 lines), theToulouse Metro is aVAL (Véhicule Automatique Léger)metro system made up of driverless (automatic)rubber-tyred trains:
Line A runs for 12.5 km (7.8 mi) from Balma-Gramont in the north-east to Basso Cambo in the south-west.
Line B, which opened in June 2007, serves 20 stations north to south and intersects line A at Jean Jaurès.
Line C is under construction for an opening in 2028 with 21 stations over 27 km. It will cross line B at 2 stations (La Vache and François Verdier) and will cross line A at Matabiau Gares (central train station)
Actual Line C has existed since line A was completed. It is not VAL but an urban railway line operated bySNCF. It connects to line A atArènes. Two other stations located in Toulouse are also served by line C. Lardenne, formerly named "Gare des Capelles", changed its name in September 2003 when line C opened.[63] Le TOEC station opened on 1 September 2003 with the creation of line C, allowing an urban train service in Toulouse and close western suburbs.[63] Since 2023, the service is now namedArènes-Colomiers train line to leave the name for the new metro line.[64]
The tramway line T1, with 25 stations and 14.8 km long, has been in service since December 2010. It links Toulouse to the new MEETT Exhibition and Convention Centre in Beauzelle, via Blagnac.
The tramway line T2, which connects Toulouse-Blagnac airport, is a branch of the first line. It is currently stopped to transform it into an airport express tram which will be connected to metro line C in 2028.
Since 13 May 2022, the city of Toulouse has had a new mode of public transportation called Téléo. This is a cable car that links Paul-Sabatier University to Rangueil Hospital and theOncopole (a major cancer research centre). It allows to fly over the Garonne and the hill of Pech David and, with its 3 kilometres, it is the longest urban cable car in France. It is presented as the first link in a public transport belt that is not radial and oriented towards the city centre, but designed to encircle the south of Toulouse.
In 2007, a citywide bicycle rental scheme called VélôToulouse was introduced,[65] with bicycles available from automated stations for a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly subscription.
The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Toulouse on a weekday is 44 minutes. 9.1% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 9 minutes, while 10.4% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 7 kilometres (4.3 mi), while 8% travel for over 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) in a single direction.[66]
Toulouse is the home of Bonhoure Radio Tower, a 61-metre-tall (200 ft) lattice tower used for FM and TV transmission.[67] In 2001 a 100-kilometre (62 mi)optical fiber (symmetric 360 Gbit/s) network namedInfrastructure Métropolitaine de Télécommunications was deployed around the city and suburbs.[68]
Toulouse is the seat of theAcadémie des Jeux Floraux, the equivalent of theFrench Academy for the Occitan-speaking regions of southern France, making Toulouse the unofficial capital ofOccitan culture. The traditionalCross of Toulouse (from Provence, under the name of cross of Provence), emblem of the County of Toulouse and commonly widespread around all of Occitania during the Middle Ages is the symbol of the city and of the newly founded Midi-Pyrénéesrégion, as well as a popular Occitan symbol.
The city's gastronomic specialties include theSaucisse de Toulouse, a type ofsausage,cassoulet Toulousain, a bean and porkstew, andgarbure, a cabbage soup with poultry. Also,foie gras, the liver of an overfed duck or goose, is a delicacy commonly made in the Midi-Pyrénées.[73]
Toulouse Olympique represents the city inrugby league. The club has been playing in theBritish rugby league system since 2016. They have been playing in thetop tier in 2022 and played in the 2nd tierChampionship in 2023, after their relegation. The club has had historical success in France, having been crowned French champions six times.
Musically, Toulouse is one of the two controversial, disputed birthplaces ofCarlos Gardel (1890–1935) (the other beingTacuarembo,Uruguay), probably the most prominent figure in thehistory of the tango. The city's most renowned songwriter isClaude Nougaro (1929-2004). The composer and organistGeorges Guiraud (1868–1928) and songwriterJain (b. 1992) were born in Toulouse.
Concerning arts, Toulouse is the birthplace of Impressionist painterHenri Martin (1860–1943) as well as sculptorsAlexandre Falguière (1831–1900),Antonin Mercié (1845–1916) and illustratorEdmund Dulac (1882–1953). Moreover,Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) andAntoine Bourdelle (1861–1929) were trained at the Toulouse fine arts school. Post Impressionist painterHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec's (1864–1901) father was Count Alphonse Charles de Toulouse-Lautrec Monfa (1838–1913) and was part of an aristocratic family of Counts of Toulouse, Odet de Foix, Vimcomte de Lautrec and the Viscounts of Montfa.
^Speyer cathedral is slightly larger, but unlike Saint-Sernin this church has been largely destroyed and rebuilt in its history, so the question of which is the largest remaining Romanesque church depends on the criteria chosen as to Romanesque character.
^"TOULOUSE–FRANCAZAL (31)"(PDF).Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1991–2020 et records (in French). Meteo France. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 19 March 2022. Retrieved14 July 2022.
^Albert Dauzat etCharles Rostaing,Dictionnaire étymologique des noms de lieux en France, 2nd ed., Librairie Guénégaud 1978.
^Le Nom de Toulouse de Pierre Moret, 1996, Université Toulouse le Mirail – Toulouse II, p. 11;Histoire de Toulouse, 1974, p. 11.
^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadCollective work directed by Jean-Marc Olivier and Rémy Pech: "Histoire de Toulouse et de la métropole". Éditions Privat, 2019.
^Cyril Eugene Smith: "University of Toulouse in the middle ages, its origins and growth to 1500 AD." Ed. The Marquette university press, 1958.
^Biraben, Jean-Noël.La Population de Toulouse au XIVe et au XVe siècles [Pierre Wolff, Les Estimes toulousaines du XIVe et XVe siècles]. Journal des savants, 1964, p. 300.
^Brumont, Francis.La commercialisation du pastel toulousain (1350–1600). Privat presse, 1994, p. 27.
^Guy Ahlsell de Toulza, Louis Peyrusse, Bruno Tollon, «Hôtels et demeures de Toulouse et du Midi toulousain» ("Hotels and residences in Toulouse and the region of Toulouse"), Editor Daniel Briand, 1997.
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