Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The former slaughterhouses of Toulouse were built between 1827 and 1831 under the direction of the architect Urban Vitry, responding to a municipal will to centralize and rationalize the slaughter in the city. Located on the left bank of the Garonne, outside of the ramparts, they integrated functional buildings (scalers, burrows, triperie) organized around a central courtyard, with a sober brick architecture. Their conception was perhaps inspired by the Basilica of St.Sernin, evoking the martyrdom of St.Saturnin, although this hypothesis is not confirmed by Vitry.

Over the 19th and 20th centuries, the complex underwent several changes: a protective wall in 1838, dykes in the 1950s, and a major rehabilitation between 1927 and 1930 led by Jean Montariol to modernize the installations. The slaughterhouses closed in 1988 for health and structural reasons, before being classified as a historic monument in 1990. Their conversion into a cultural space was decided in 1991, merging the Museum of Modern Art of Toulouse, the FRAC Midi-Pyrénées and the CRAC de Labège.

The transformation project, entrusted to architects Antoine Stinco and Rémi Papillault, preserved the original architecture while adapting to its new museum vocation. Inaugurated in 2000 under the name Les Abattoirs, Museum – Frac Occitanie Toulouse, the places now house collections of modern and contemporary art, including a monumental stage curtain by Pablo Picasso. The site symbolizes the rehabilitation of the Toulouse industrial heritage, while energizing the Saint-Cyprien district.

The history of slaughterhouses also reflects the evolution of hygienist practices in the 19th century, with the desire to consolidate slaughter activities into a unique, controlled and healthy place. Before they were built, Toulouse had many small, scattered slaughterhouses, such as the one on the island of Tounis or near the Arnaud-Bernard gate, often criticized for their unsanitary nature. Vitry's project thus marked a break with these medieval practices, while integrating into a modern urbanistic logic.

The conversion of slaughterhouses into a museum is part of a national and European trend of valorisation of brownfields, like the CAPC in Bordeaux or the Tàpies museum in Barcelona. In Toulouse, this project was led by Alain Moussigne, founding director, who united the scattered collections of the city and the region. Today, the museum offers varied programming, with temporary exhibitions and an innovative museum, such as the rotating presentation of Picasso's curtain in a theatre crypt room.

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