Paris1972-Versailles2003

And here is a monument that we have visited but hardly taken any photos or at least I cannot find them chez moi. So on this trip I made sure visited and took photos of a wonderfully architecturally and historical monument of the pink city of Toulouse. 

I will like to tell you briefly  on the Convent des Jacobins. Here is my take on it. It is well place in city center walking distance from the Capitole and well worth the walk.

The Convent of the Jacobins of Toulouse, is made up of a church called Church of the Jacobins, a cloister, a chapter house, a refectory and a chapel, the Saint-Antonin chapel. It was built by the order of the preaching brothers, a begging order whose first convent of the male branch was founded in 1215 in Toulouse by Dominique de Guzmán, ( Spanish,Domingo Núñez de Guzmán) future Saint Dominique, in order to promote the preaching of the Gospel and fight against the Cathar heresy. These buildings, entirely made of brick, are considered as jewels of Languedoc Gothic art in terms of monastic construction of the 13C and 14C.

The preaching brothers were called Dominicans from the 13C and also Jacobins, much later, in the modern period, in reference to the great convent of Paris located rue Saint-Jacques. Since 1369 the church has housed the relics (first order relics) of Saint Thomas Aquinas, to which it is dedicated. It is also in these buildings that the old university of Toulouse was established for several centuries from its foundation in 1229 until its suppression during the French revolution.

The Convent of the Jacobins, abandoned by the Dominicans with the prohibition of their order during the French revolution, is confiscated as national property and used as barracks and as a depot. One part was allocated to the city of Toulouse in 1810, but the other continued to house an army of horses, and more than 5,000 cubic meters of land to as ground. The side chapels are slightly damaged to enlarge the place. The church becomes a vast stable while the Saint-Antonin chapel becomes a veterinary infirmary. Finally the cloister is demolished three-quarters to improve the passage of horses. In 1865, the monument was exchanged in the city of Toulouse for land where barracks were built and the army left the site.

In 2016, on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the Dominicans, the Saint Antonin Chapel of the Couvent des Jacobins hosts the exhibition “Dominican Trajectories” in order to reconnect with the medieval roots of this Order born in Toulouse

The church was considered the most beautiful Dominican church in Christian Europe. It measures 80 meters long by 20 meters wide creating an impressive interior volume. The stone piers are 22 meters high. The palm tree is a masterpiece unique in the world rising to 28 meters in height. The interior is painted in polychrome decor with Toulouse crosses here and there. Stained glass windows inspired by 14C western roses were made by Max Ingrand in 1955.  The church was consecrated several times, notably on October 22, 1385, and the return of the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

The bell tower rests on the north side of the church and is 45 meters high. It was built between 1275 and 1298 in a similar way to that of the nearby Saint-Sernin basilica. It is an octagonal bell tower of four recessed floors pierced with twin bays covered with a miter arch. Its original arrow was destroyed during the Revolution. The cloister is made up of four galleries built between 1306 and 1309. The colonnades are in gray Saint-Béat marble and the capitals are decorated with plant sculptures. They support a lean-to roof resting on arches of bricks, themselves resting on the capitals.

The chapter house dating from between 1299 and 1301 is located in the western gallery of the cloister. It is a vast room, the vault of which rests on two fine prismatic marble columns. The refectory is located in the extension of the eastern gallery of the cloister. It is a large room with diaphragm arches bearing a paneled frame. It measures 17 m in height and is one of the largest monastic refectories of medieval times. It now hosts temporary exhibitions. The Saint-Antonin chapel is located between the refectory and the chapter house. It was built and decorated between 1335 and 1341 at the expense of Dominique Grima, brother preacher and bishop of Pamiers. It is intended to receive the tombs of the canons and the remains of its founder.

Its decoration is painted in tempera and represents the second vision of the Apocalypse. Near the false windows with white lily flowers on a blue background, there are angels with a series of instruments, including a viola, a bagpipe, a harp, a portable organ, a double drone and a psaltery. The walls display paintings from the life of Saint Antoninus, patron of the Pamiers Cathedral.

As said a monument worth your time to visit, I say a must while in Toulouse. Here are the webpages to help you plan your trip to it

Official Convent des Jacobins of Toulouse

Tourist office of Toulouse on the Convent des Jacobins

And there you go a must to see . Convent des Jacobins.  Enjoy Toulouse,the pink city of France, a must to see I said.. 

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

This is a must, one good reason to come to Toulouse, the pink city. I have walked by  here many times and last came in to visit in 2010 yes your are reading right. So much to see in this wonderful city, re visit and will be back again. The Hôtel d’Assézat was a pity to wait this long to be back.

I have written briefly on it from an old picture I had , much on its history. This is my previous post in my blog. Previous post in blog on the Hotel d’Assezat

It is time I tell you a bit more and newer photos of 2020! This is my take on the museum and property of the Hôtel d’Assézat of Toulouse.

Located a short distance from Place Esquirol, the Hôtel d’Assézat is a private mansion, built in 1555-1557 on plans by Nicolas Bachelier, the greatest Toulouse architect of the Renaissance. Behind a monumental wooden portal hides an interior courtyard, renovated in 1993. It houses the Bemberg Foundation museum since 1995, which presents a collection of art, including painting, from the 15C to the beginning of the 20C.

Beyond the entrance pavilion, the buildings bordering the main courtyard have independent access. If the entrance to reception and living rooms ,genuinely furnished in the 17C is via the high steps of the main staircase, under the pavilion, a paved descent provides access to food services with kitchens and outbuildings in the basement before emerging into the backyard which combines shed, barn and stable.

The third side of the courtyard is dominated by the loggia. This elevated gallery covered with a slate roof with dormer windows is the ideal place to receive loved ones and clients. As for the Chapter Tower, the tallest private tower in Toulouse, it houses two terraces, a covered walkway and at its summit a “tempietto” or small temple.

The story goes that following the episode known as the Deliverance from Toulouse where Catholics drive Protestants out of the city, Pierre d’Assézat had to go into exile, returning sporadically to the banks of the Garonne river until his death in the summer of 1581 The hotel remained in the family fold until 1761, when it was sold to Nicolas-Joseph Marcassus de Puymaurin, a cloth merchant.

In the middle of the 18C, the Hôtel d’Assézat once again became, as in the Renaissance, a formidable laboratory of artistic modernity, under the impetus of Nicolas-Joseph Marcassus de Puymaurin, its owner. He contributed, among other things, to the birth of the Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and played a prominent role in the organization of the Toulouse Salons. A great art collector, he brought together the works of Rivalz, Despax or Carrache and allows the hatching of Jacques Gamelin. This appetite for the dissemination of knowledge and the arts is found in Théodore Ozenne. In 1895, this wealthy business banker bought the building and bequeathed it to the City of Toulouse on the condition that it housed the Academies and Learned societies there. A century later, Dominique Baudis left part of the building at the disposal of Georges Bemberg in order to house his rich private collection.

The museum once going up the steps houses in the first floor the Salle Venice showcasing the Venetian school of the 18C with work of Canaletto, Guardi, Teipolo, etc. It also has art from the 16C with paintings by Véronése, Titien, and Tintoret. The floor continues with work of Pourbus, Brueghel, Van Dyck and Pieter de Hooch etc. There are bronces from the Renaissance rare books, precious objects, furniture, tapestries etc.

At the 2^nd Floor, you have a room dedicated to Bonnard and as well the modern French school with work by Matisse, Degas, and Monet etc.

Some webpages to help you plan your trip here are

Official museum Bemberg foundation

Tourist office of Toulouse on Hotel d’Assezat

And there you go like I said a must to visit while in Toulouse. You have arts, architecture ,and history all in one building. A Toulouse tradition that is kept alive, live it. Enjoy it, the Hôtel d’Assézat

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

Looking back I cannot believe not written a post on one of the most important monuments in Toulouse!! It goes saying there is a lot of things to see in my belle France. Right here in lovely pink city of Toulouse, the Basilica of Saint Sernin is awesome to say the least.

It’s time I remedy this oversight and tell you a bit on this wonderful place we love so much. Architecturally ,historically ,and religiously it is all tops.

The Saint-Sernin Basilica is a sanctuary built to house the relics of Saint Saturnin, first bishop of Toulouse, martyred in 250. It became one of the most important pilgrimage centers of the medieval West, it was served since the 9C at the latest and until the French revolution, by a canonical community. Saint-Sernin is one of the largest preserved Romanesque churches in Europe!

Saint Saturnin, then head of the Christian community of Toulouse, was taken to task in 250 by pagan priests in the forum at the foot of the ancient Capitolium (current Place Esquirol). He refused to renounce Christianity and to sacrifice to Jupiter ;a bull; he was then attached to the latter who dragged him through the streets of the city along the cardo and crossed the north door to the present site of the basilica, where the rope broke. Two young girls, the holy Puelles, buried Saint Saturnin on the spot. The bull notably passed by the rue de Claustre, now Rue du Taur, renamed after the animal.

The Basilica St Sernin retains 260 Romanesque capitals and is the symbol of southern Romanesque architecture. Toulouse then received the visit of many pilgrims on the way to Saint-James of Compostela, who came to honor the relics of Saint Saturnin. The Saint-Sernin Basilica is classified as a historic monument by the 1840 list. It is also listed as a UNESCO world heritage site by the ways of Santiago de Compostela in France since 1998.

As said , a brief description. The nave is 115 meters long. It is made up of 5 naves and its main nave is 8 meters wide. The nave presents stands on the side aisles. The height of the semicircular vault is 21 meters. The transept of the basilica extends from the Porte des Comtes to the Chapels of the Sacred Heart and Saint-Exupère, formerly the royal door open to the monastery, to the north of the church. In front of the Porte des Comtes (counts gate) are, on one of the pillars, a carved feet of Saint-Christophe and, on the eastern face of the southern transept, the Chapels of Sainte-Germaine and the Virgin Mary. The Choir of the basilica houses the tomb of Saint-Saturnin: a baroque canopy in which there is a statue to the glory of the Saint, his burial, as well as a representation of his ordeal in a bas-relief of golden lead. This tomb, was made between 1718 and 1759.

Just above the crossing of the transept, where the main altar is located, stands a bell tower 65 meters high and octagonal in shape. It consists of 5 levels. The transept is followed by an ambulatory bedside with radiating chapels. These chapels are the exhibition site for the reliquaries of the abbey. The ambulatory is decorated with seven marble bas-reliefs embedded in the wall, with in the center a Christ framed by a cherub, a seraphim, two apostles and two angels.

The Basilica of Saint-Sernin has preserved the head and body of Saint James the Great since 1354. The reliquary of the Holy Thorn has since 1251 been preserved here , this is a thorn taken from the Holy Crown thanks to the gift of Alphonse de Poitiers, brother of Saint Louis. From 1083, after a brief period of monastic obedience under the authority of the abbots of Cluny and Moissac, the basilica became a collegiate church, that is to say a church held by a college of regular canons led by a provost, then by an abbot. The canonical chapter was suppressed during the French revolution and Saint-Sernin became a simple collegiate church until 1878, when it was consecrated again and received the honorary title of minor basilica by Pope Leo XIII. After the Revolution and with the abandonment of the abbey buildings, it was decided to clear the basilica and make its forecourt and its various doors accessible. This project will be implemented at the beginning of the 19C. From 1804 to 1808, the cloister of the old abbey was dismantled and some capitals were preserved and exhibited at the Musée des Augustins. Then, by expropriation and repurchases, the buildings and edifices are destroyed all around the church under the impulse of the city architect, in order to form an elliptical square. The Saint-Raymond museum, a former college of the same name, originally a hospital run by the abbey, is the only surviving old building in the abbey complex.

The great organs of the Saint-Sernin Basilica, renowned throughout the world, were completed in 1889 by the house of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Inaugurated on April 3, 1889 by Alexandre Guilmant, the instrument has fifty-four stops distributed over three keyboards and a pedal (exactly 3,458 pipes). From 1992 to 1996, it was restored.

The chapels and doors inside the Basilica are numerous but will mention the main ones briefly here: Porte des Comtes, Enfeu des Comtes; Porte Miégeville; Chapel of Saint-Pierre; Sacristy; Chapel of the Crucifix; Chapel of Souls in purgatory; Chapel of the Immaculate Conception; Chapel of Saint-Georges; Chapel of the Holy Spirit; Chapelle Saint-Martial, Saint-Cyr and Sainte-Julitte: Chapelle Saint-Sylve; Chapelle of the Virgin; and Sainte-Germaine Chapel.

It is a huge building and will take at least half a day to see all in details, but worth it. We have done in several trips here and each time come back for somthing new and its great. Come see the Basilica of Saint Sernin in lovely Toulouse.

The tourist office of Toulouse: Tourist office of Toulouse on the Basilica St Sernin

Official Basilica of St Sernin: Official Basilica of Saint Sernin

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