Toulouse Travel Guide

Toulouse, the aeronautics and space exploration capital of France, can afford to reach for the sky: its history has given it a solid base from which it can move towards the future with confidence. Nestling at the foot of the Pyrenees that lie between it and Spain, the city known as “la Ville Rose” (due to the delicate purplish-pink hues of its buildings) has an immensely rich past, which through the centuries has alternated between periods of prosperity and dark, somber times.

The first inhabitants and Tolosa

The city's history goes back over 2000 years, starting with the Volques Tectosages, a small Celtic tribe that settled in the Garonne valley in 300 B.C. Because of its strategic position, Toulouse - which provided a link between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic - was already (in 100 B.C.) of great interest to the Romans, who made it one of their colonies in the 2nd century A.D. The colony subsequently prospered from the wine trade and by the 3rd century A.D. was surrounded by its first city wall, which reached north to the Porterie (now Place du Capitole (Le)) and south to Porte Narbonnaise, now the Place du Salin and the Place du Parlement. Around this time Christianity was introduced to the city by Saint Saturnin, who later died at the hands of a frenzied heathen mob who tied him to the tail of a bull. Many of the city's buildings and monuments are named in his honour and reference his martyrdom: Rue du Taur (from “taureau”, meaning “bull”), Eglise Notre-Dame-du-Taur, Basilique St. Sernin and Matabiau station (from matar bios, meaning “to kill the bull.”)

The barbarian invasions

From the 5th century A.D., the city was subjected to barbarian invasions: although the Vandals were stopped by Gallo-Roman defenses, the Visigoths, who came from the area around the Black Sea, declared the city capital of their empire. A century later, the Franks in their turn took possession of the city. A period of calm followed, until the 9th century A.D. when Toulouse found itself relegated to the rank of simple county town. During the Middle Ages, however, governed by Raimond II, it became capital of the County of Toulouse. Ruled by city nobles, Toulouse quickly expanded, due to a large influx of settlers from rural areas. The city then stretched beyond its walls to the north as far as Place Saint-Sernin, to the south as far as the Saint-Michel area of the city and to the west on the left bank of the Garonne (La). In the 12th century, the nobility lost the city to the Capitouls or city consuls.

The Cathars

In the 12th century A.D., the Cathars, a group following a doctrine based on key oppositions (material and spiritual, good and evil), tried to establish themselves in Toulouse and found many supporters. The king sent in his troops, led by Simon de Monfort (killed by a stone on the contemporary site of the Grand-Rond), which eventually succeeded in routing the heretics. As a result, the first wave of the Inquisition swept through Toulouse, bringing with it the religious fervour that was behind the founding of the Dominican monastic order in the Couvent des Jacobins and, from 1229, the establishment of a theological university. Declared part of the royal domains in 1271, Toulouse experienced rapid economic growth (thanks to the Garonne river) and blossomed intellectually and artistically. However a dark historical period beginning in the 14th century would follow, when plague, the Hundred Years' War, famine, floods, and fire each ravaged the city in turn.

Pastel

The year 1420 marked a turning point in Toulouse's history as the beginning of a gilded century ruled by prosperity. Charles VII introduced a judicial body to the city: the Parliament. Pastel merchants, who had made their fortunes by exporting this plant-derived blue dye throughout Europe, converged around the Grande Rue (today Rue des Filatiers, Rue des Changes, and Rue St Rome), built magnificent town houses (Hôtel d'Assézat, Hôtel de Bernuy) and took command of a society of abundance, where architectural innovation and fine arts flourished. The mid-16th century, however, brought a second period of impoverishment to Toulouse as a much less expensive blue dye arrived from America, wiping out the pastel trade: indigo. A new civil war, this time between Catholics and Calvinists, caused an enormously damaging fire in the city. From this point until the 17th century, numerous outbreaks of plague and accompanying famines tormented Toulouse. A period of development followed, when many industrial projects were completed. The Pont Neuf was constructed during this time, as was the Place du Capitole (Le) and the Canal du Midi.

The Age of Enlightenment and growth during the 19th century

The Jean Calas affair caused an uproar in 1761: accused of murdering his own son who wanted to become a Catholic, Toulouse merchant Jean Calas - although he protested his innocence — was sentenced to death and burned alive in 1762. This prompted widespread condemnation by key figures in French society of the parliamentary persecution of Protestants in Toulouse. Although hindered by the limitations imposed by the Inquisition and religious intolerance, the city was slowly but surely modernized during the 18th century. A period of urban redevelopment was born which continued until the end of the 19th century. Beginning in 1750, Toulouse witnessed the building of the Jardin Royal, the Grand-Rond with its six splendid avenues, the Canal de Brienne (Le), Quai Dillon, the Patte-d'Oie area of the city, Place Wilson and Place du Capitole. The opening of Matabiau station in 1856 heralded the age of transportation, boulevards replacing the city walls and major thoroughfares running through the city, following the example of the wonderful improvements made by préfet Haussmann in Paris. These large-scale projects were to give the city, which by the end of the 19th century had long since outgrown the original narrow streets of a medieval town, a whole new look. Meantime, the French Revolution of 1789 marked the end of the Capitouls' reign, and Joseph de Rigaud was voted in as Toulouse's first mayor.

The 20th century: the age of aeronautics

The beginning of the 20th century was characterized by a huge population increase, caused by the arrival of immigrants fleeing the numerous fascist regimes of the period (immigrants came from the north of France in 1914, from Italy in the 1920's, and from Spain in 1934). World-wide conflict forced the city, due to its strategic position near the border with Spain, to alter its priorities and undergo its own industrial revolution, equipping itself with chemical industries in 1915, the Latécoère aircraft factory soon after, and the French airmail service Aéropostale. Aérospatiale (the internationally-known aeronautics firm) was created here in 1920. During the Second World War, the network of resistance under the German occupation developed and expanded here. A new wave of immigrants arrived just after the war in Algeria and forced the city to spread further west towards the suburbs.

Since then, industries — particularly the aviation industry — have continued to flourish, as have electronics and space exploration sectors. France's fourth biggest city, home to the country's second biggest university and France's aeronautics capital, Toulouse today is a dynamic, forward-looking city whose pinks (for its buildings) and blues (for its pastel) are a constant reminder of its rich and colorful past.2008-08-02T07:29:22.000 219