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Origin and history

The church of the Jacobins of Toulouse, founded by the Dominican order in the 13th century, is a masterpiece of Languedoc Gothic art. Built in brick, it embodies the ideal of poverty of the preaching Brothers, with a rectangular nave divided to separate religious and lay. Its mineral palm, a network of 22 veins supporting the vaults, is a unique architectural feat completed in 1292.

The convent grew into four campaigns (1230-1336), financed by donations like that of Capdenier's Capitoul Pons. Since 1369, the church has been home to the relics of Saint Thomas of Aquinas, after having been the seat of the University of Toulouse until the Revolution. Its octagonal bell tower (45 m), inspired by Saint-Sernin, and its marble cloister of Saint-Béat (1306-1309) complete this monastic ensemble.

During the Revolution, the convent became barracks and then stables, suffering destruction (partial destruction of the cloister, suppression of the arrow). Restored since 1920, he owes his rescue to Maurice Prin, honorary curator. Today, the church impresses with its 80 m long, contemporary stained glass windows (Max Ingrand, 1955) and its polychrome décor, while the refectory hosts temporary exhibitions.

The chapel Saint-Antonin (1335-1341), adorned with apocalyptic frescoes, and the capitular room (1299-1301) bear witness to the artistic richness of the place. The Baroque mausoleum of St.Thomas Aquinas (17th century), destroyed at the Revolution, left room for a modern altar (1974) sheltering its shawl. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1840, the ensemble combines external austerity and interior sumptuousness.

The history of the Jacobins is marked by various uses: a place of preaching against catharism, a medieval university, a refuge of works of art during the First World War (under the care of Paul Jamot, curator of the Louvre). The successive restorations revived its painted decorations and its partially reconstituted cloister. Today owned by the city, there remains a symbol of the intellectual and spiritual heritage of Toulouse.

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