Paris1972-Versailles2003

I will take you south deep cathar country and home of family on wifes side. We have been here many many times and have posts on several locations ,however, most have been brief comments of the sights to see. I think they deserve more so will do several posts on the things to see and we like in the pink city of Toulouse! The city is in the Haute Garonne department 31 of the region of Occitanie. Hope you enjoy the series.

The Saint-Raymond Museum, formerly known as the Antiques Museum, is the archaeological museum of Toulouse opened in 1892. It is housed in the walls of the former Saint-Raymond university college dating from the 16C, which adjoins Saint-Sernin basilica. It preserves and presents archaeological collections from early medieval Protohistory, mainly from the Celtic, Roman and early Christian periods.

Originally at this site was a necropolis Christian dating back to the 4C that stretched on both sides of the Roman road around the tomb of Saturnin, the first bishop of Toulouse near the Basilica of St. Sernin. In the years 1075-1080, instead of the current building, a hospital reserved for the poor and pilgrims making the way to Santiago de Compostela via Tolosane, is founded by Raymond Gayrard and funded by the Counts of Toulouse. On his death around 1120, Raymond Gayrard was buried in the Saint John chapel adjoining the hospital which took the name of Saint-Raymond chapel in 1122. By decision of the abbot of Saint-Sernin, the place becomes In the 19C, when the University was created, the College Saint-Raymond, reserved for the poor students of the University of Toulouse and will retain this function until the French revolution. The City of Toulouse bought it in 1836 to destine it to various functions such as those of stables and barracks. Between 1868 and 1871, it was restored by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc who removes the traces of the demolished chapel and built a fourth angle turret, adds two walls of the interior and many crenellated chimneys that accentuate the medieval aspect of the whole. He also built a neo-Gothic house in the old courtyard of the college, which became a garden.

The building then served as presbytery at the Basilica of St. Sernin until  1890, when the City wished to recover the monument to install the Labor Exchange or the Academies and Learned Societies and eventually opt for the installation of ‘a museum. it is one of the few surviving testimonies of Toulouse university architecture of the late Middle Ages.  The building becomes a “museum of ancient and exotic decorative art” by law of the city council in 1891 and it is inaugurated on April 24, 1892. It is then reserved for small antiquities, that is to say to small works dimensions (ethnographic objects, works of art, furniture, coins and medals and archaeological objects) at all periods. The building is adapted to its new functions and stairs, partitions and cupboards are cut down to create larger exhibition spaces. Many windows are drilled to better illuminate the rooms.

It is named in 1935 the museum of Cluny of Toulouse. In 1939 is created the Society of Friends of the Saint-Raymond Museum and Ancient Arts. It becomes in 1949, the archaeological museum of Toulouse and thus receives the collections of the Antiquity and the high Middle Ages of the city. In 1980, in order to liberate all of the museum’s 2,500 m2 spaces and open them to the public, the City of Toulouse acquired the neighboring building located at 11 rue des Trois-Renards to relocate the offices. and technical services and create meeting rooms, documentation and the conservation library. A building was built between 1992 and 1994 in the district of Bourrassol to accommodate the reserves. Between 1994 and 1996, archaeological excavations were undertaken to uncover the necropolis of Saint-Sernin, located near the tomb of the martyr Saint Saturnin, and its burials dating back to the 4C. It is on this occasion that is discovered the lime kiln dating from the 5C or 6C and today visible in situ. It reopened its doors to the public in 1999, after more than four years of renovation during which the building was restored to its original appearance of 1523 and a part of the ancient Paleochristian necropolis dating from the 4-5C has been uncovered.!

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here and you must are

Official Museum of St Raymond

Tourist office of Toulouse on the museum St Raymond

There you go another dandy in my belle France, and lovely territory of many memories from and with the family over the years. Again, very nice area ,hope you enjoy the series posts to come on Toulouse, the pink city!

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

I will take you south deep cathar country and home of family on wifes side. We have been here many many times and have posts on several locations ,however, most have been brief comments of the sights to see. I think they deserve more so will do several posts on the things to see and we like in the pink city of Toulouse! The city is in the Haute Garonne department 31 of the region of Occitanie. Hope you enjoy the series.

The Musée des Augustins, one of the first museums done after the decree of 1792 during the French revolution, open in 1795 with a huge amount of portraits of France and Europe, especially coming from France and Italy, but also from Spain and the Netherlands, as well as sculptures from Roman to Gothic times and has a bust of Rodin and Claudel.  A wonderful museum to see.

Before being assigned to the museum, the buildings were a house of the order of the hermits of St. Augustins. In its current location, inside the walls of the city, the Augustinian convent of Toulouse was built in 1309 with the authorization of Pope Clement V. It was transformed into a museum after the suppression of religious orders in the French revolution. The first collections are composed of revolutionary seizures and works from the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of Toulouse. In 1804, the museum and the School of Arts settled in the east wing of the small Renaissance cloister. The School of Fine Arts leaves the Augustinians for the Daurade in 1892.  During his visit to Toulouse in 1808, Napoleon confirmed the sale of the convent to the city for museological purposes. In 1812, the museum received from Napoleon 30 new paintings (Dutch, Flemish, Italian and French) including the Reception of the Duke of Longueville in the order of the Holy Spirit of Philippe de Champaigne.

The renovation work consists first of all in the reconstruction of the walls separating the chapel and the sacristy in the eastern wing. Beginning in 1975, the surface of the exhibition halls and the restoration of the convent were increased. Finally a new entrance is built in the south-east by recovering the portal of the chapel of the Black Penitents, formerly rue Saint-Jérôme. The new layout of the old church has enabled the museum to have a remarkable classical German organ designed by Jürgen Ahrend and decorated by Pierre Belin. It was inaugurated in 1981 and it is still possible today to listen to concerts every Wednesday night in the museum’s church.

The garden of the Musée des Augustins museum  has parcels composed on the plan of the gardens of the abbey of St. Gallen in Switzerland which is the reference plan used for the monastic buildings of the medieval West. This one is divided into four parts. Each zone has its own utility: each of the 112 plant species is distributed according to its function. First of all, the central garden is mainly decorated with flowers and allows to make bouquets to decorate the altars. It can include roses and lilies, but also violets, nasturtiums, acanthus and periwinkles. The second part, the Herbularius, otherwise known as the “Garden of Medicinal Plants”, is located next to the doctor’s home and serves it to cultivate the plants he needed for his remedies. Then, the Hortus or “vegetable garden”, located near the kitchens, is composed of vegetables and herbs used to feed the religious. It also follows the strict plan of the Abbey of St. Gallen. Finally, the Arboretum or Fructum, which is usually on the side of the cemetery, is the orchard. The garden has fruit trees and shrubs used for feeding and flowering the garden with among others apples, cherries, pears, and cassis.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here and you must are

Official museum of Augustins

Tourist office of Toulouse on the museum of Augustins

There you go another dandy in my belle France, and lovely territory of many memories from and with the family over the years. Again, very nice area ,hope you enjoy the series posts to come on Toulouse, the pink city!

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!