My second guided walking tour was called “Grand Monuments of Toulouse” and was again organized by the city tourist office.

Sarah with her microphone
I was pleased to find that we again had the same guide, Sarah, only this time she had a microphone and a small loudspeaker. This made no difference to me, since I found her easy to understand with or without a microphone, but I suppose the microphone made it easier for her.
Again the tour was in French, and again we started from the city tourist office in the donjon behind the Capitole. We were supposed visit the city hall, in the south half of Le Capitole, but we couldn’t go in because so many couples were getting married on that day.

Basilica of St. Sernin
One of the first stops on our guided walking tour “Grand Monuments of Toulouse” was the Basilica of St. Sernin, which I had already seen from the outside while riding around on the VélÔToulouse bicycles.
It turns out that Saint Sernin was another name for Saint Saturnin. Under whichever name, he was the first bishop of Toulouse. He was martyred in the year 250 AD during an uprising of the local pagan population. Pagan priests supposedly tied his feet to a bull, which dragged him around until he was dead.

In the Basilica of St. Sernin
The current basilica was built between 1060 and 1118. It is considered a typical example of Romanesque architecture and is also known as a pilgrimage church because it is on the Via Tolosana, which is the pilgrimage route from Arles to Santiago de Compostela.

In the Basilica of St. Sernin
Even the pillars are made of local bricks, as is typical of Toulouse.

Frescos in the Basilica of St. Sernin
Location, aerial view and photos of the Basilica of St. Sernin on monumentum.fr.

Fake Parisian building
At first glance, this building in the Old Town of Toulouse might seem to be made of stone blocks just like a typical 19th century building in Paris. But in fact it is made mostly of local bricks that were painted to look like stone blocks (except for the balconies).
Our guide explained that there are no stone quarries in or near Toulouse, so building a house entirely out of stone would have been prohibitively expensive.

Brick not stone
Later I noticed this building near my hotel on Rue Bayard. If you just look at the front façade, and don’t get up too close to it, it really does look like a Parisian stone building from the 19th century.

Isatis tinctoria
The rather ordinary-looking plant that Sarah is showing us here is the pastel plant or Isatis tinctoria, which was a source of great wealth in Toulouse and vicinity in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Apparently the soil around Toulouse is ideally suited for the growing of pastel plants. The plants themselves are of little value, but through a long and complicated manufacturing process they can be turned into an indelible blue dye which was exported to England and Flanders, where it was sold for high prices to cloth manufacturers.
Around 1560 the pastel trade started to decline. There were several reasons for this, including mismanagement, bad weather and the wars of religion, but the main reason was the introduction of indigo dye from South America, since indigo was also a blue dye but was cheaper and easier to use than pastel.

Hôtel de Bernuy
One of those who became very wealthy through the pastel trade was a Spanish merchant named Jean de Bernuy, who settled in Toulouse and had this elaborate Renaissance house built to show off his wealth and status.

Artichoke ceiling of the Hôtel de Bernuy
The ornamentation on this vaulted ceiling reminds people of artichokes.

Tower of Hôtel de Bernuy
The tower of the Hôtel de Bernuy was one of the tallest in Toulouse at the time it was built, in the sixteenth century. (The word Hôtel is used here in its old sense, meaning a private mansion.)

Collège Pierre de Fermat
The Hôtel de Bernuy now belongs to a school, the Collège Pierre de Fermat.
Location, aerial view and photos of the Hôtel de Bernuy on monumentum.fr.

Jacobean Church
The Jacobean Church was begun in the 13th century by the Dominican Order of Preachers, which was founded in 1215 by Saint Dominique for the purpose of combating heresy.
In France the Dominicans are also known as the Jacobins, after their cloister of Saint-Jacques (Saint Jacobus in Latin) in Paris. But during the French Revolution there was also an important faction called the Jacobins, so for us foreigners it can all get a bit confusing.

At the Jacobean Church
Outside the Jacobean Church, Sarah explained why the brick churches of Toulouse look so different from the Gothic churches of northern France — the main reason being that Toulouse does not have any stone quarries, but ample supplies of clay for brick making.

Pillars in the Jacobean Church
The pillars in the church are made of stone, brought in at great expense from distant quarries, but the walls are made mainly of local bricks.

Mirrors in the Jacobean Church
An unusual feature of this church is a large pillar in the middle, around which there is now a set of mirrors. This gives the illusion of looking into a deep hole, whereas what you are really looking at is the reflection of the pillar and the ceiling.

Our tour group in the Jacobean Convent
The last stop on our guided walking tour “Grand Monuments of Toulouse” was the Dominican/Jacobean convent, adjacent to the Jacobean Church.

Courtyard of the Jacobean Convent
This convent suffered serious damage during the French Revolution. It was saved from destruction in the 19th century and was fully restored in the 1950s.

Saint-Antonin Chapel
One of the chapels in the Jacobean Convent is the Saint-Antonin Chapel, which is covered with restored 14th century frescos.
Location, aerial view and photos of the Jacobean Convent on monumentum.fr.
My photos in this post are from 2014. I revised the text in 2019.
Another enjoyable walk around Toulouse – the info about the use of bricks instead of stone was especially interesting 🙂
Excellent post!
I appreciated the clarification on how in France the Dominicans in the 13th century were referred to as Jacobins. This is good to know. Thx for posting + for the fascinating photos also!
Thanks! I’m glad you liked the post.
The pastel was big there and in some villages folks still do it. The best is out of Toulouse in Graulhet (our niece is from there) ,even the road A68 is call the Autoroute du Pastel! Nice post of a nice city ::) Cheers