Editing Toulouse (section)

===Gothic architecture (13th c.-early 16th c.)===

====Southern French Gothic: a militant religious architecture====
{{see also|Southern French Gothic}}
[[file:Toulouse - Jacobins et ND du Taur.jpg|thumb|Southern French Gothic bell towers and churches]]
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Catholic clergy of the South of France, seeing a growing number of the faithful turning to the [[Catharism]] which advocated a more pious austerity, showed the will to correct the defects of the Catholic Church which indulged in luxury. Under the impulse of the bishop of Toulouse, [[Folquet de Marselha|Foulques]], an austere and militant architectural style was born with the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Toulouse: the '''Southern French Gothic'''. Conceived according to an ideal of poverty and humility to bring the faithful together in a single, vast nave to facilitate preaching, this architectural style then developed during the 13th century in the grand [[Mendicant orders|mendicant convents]] of the city, before spreading in the 14th century to a large number of churches and cathedrals in the region.<ref name="DossierVMF">Caroline de Barrau, "''Le gothique toulousain, un art militant''", in magazine VMF of march 2010 (''revue des Vieilles Maisons Françaises''), in French.</ref>

Several churches or convents in Toulouse belong to this architectural trend, but two of them are particularly symbolic and remarkable:
* [[Toulouse Cathedral|Cathedral of Saint-Étienne]] (Saint Stephen) is the seat of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse]]. Its construction, which was mainly done at the beginning and then at the end of the 13th century, reflects the history of this decisive century which saw the city lose its independence to become a French city. The single nave is the first example of Southern French Gothic, at 19 metres wide it probably was at its completion the widest in Western Europe (1210-1220). The higher choir that adjoins it was built in the Gothic style of northern France shortly after the city became part of the Crown of France in 1271.<ref name="DossierVMF"/>
* [[Church of the Jacobins|Convent of the Jacobins]] (13th century / early 14th century) was the Dominican convent of Toulouse and is considered to be, together with the [[Albi Cathedral]], the pinnacle of Southern French Gothic architecture.<ref name="UnescoAlbi">{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/1337.pdf|title=''La Cité épiscopale d'Albi'' (Episcopal City of Albi). Nomination document produced by French state for inscription on the world heritage list, p. 875, chapter comparing the Cathedral of Albi with the Jacobin Convent of Toulouse (in French)|last=|first=|publisher=World Heritage Centre (UNESCO)|year=2009|location=}}</ref> Like all Southern French Gothic churches it has a deliberately austere exterior, but on the inside its alignment of cylindrical columns form one of the tallest colonnades ever erected in Gothic architecture (28 metres high).<ref name="SeeYouInToulouse"/> The masterpiece of this church is the column that closes the choir (1275-1292), its palm tree shape was a hundred years ahead of the flamboyant gothic [[fan vault]]s.<ref name="UnescoAlbi"/> Because he thought that the bones of [[Saint Thomas Aquinas]] deserved «the most beautiful and most splendid surroundings»,<ref name="SeeYouInToulouse"/> in 1368 [[Pope Urban V]] made the church of the Jacobins the burial place of the famous Dominican friar, one of the most notable philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages.

<gallery mode="packed" heights=130 caption="Southern French Gothic religious architecture">
File:Façade_de_la_cathédrale_Saint-Étienne_de_Toulouse.jpg|Toulouse cathedral
File:Ancienne nef, cathédrale Saint-Étienne, Toulouse.jpg|Southern French Gothic nave and northern Gothic choir
File:Couvent_des_Jacobins_de_Toulouse.jpg|Church of the Jacobins, exterior (13th c.)
File:Toulouse-Jacobins-voûte.jpg|The vault of the Jacobins and its famous palm tree
File:Cloître_et_clocher_des_Jacobins.jpg|Cloister (14th c.) and bell tower (1298) of the Jacobins
File:Augustins - Grand cloître et clocher des Augustins de Toulouse.jpg|Augustinian Convent (14th c.)
File:31 - Eglise Notre-Dame du Taur - Facade.jpg|Wall belfry of Notre-Dame du Taur (14th c.)
</gallery>

====Gothic civil architecture====
Toulouse has preserved about thirty Gothic stair towers (plus a dozen Renaissance or later towers),<ref>Jean-François Gourdou, "''Tours tolosanes''", Éditions Privat, 2008.</ref> the remains of private mansions (called ''[[hôtel particulier|hôtels particuliers]]'') from the Middle Ages and the early 16th century. Often hidden in courtyards, some of these towers are high enough to exceed their function of serving the floors and display the ambition of their owners.

At a time when most of the houses in Toulouse were built in wood or [[Cob (material)|cob]], the brick construction of these towers and ''hôtels'' also testifies to their quality.

<gallery mode="packed" heights=130 caption="Gothic civil architecture">
File:Toulouse - Tour de Séguy 1477 01.jpg|Séguy tower, 1477
File:Toulouse - Tour de Boysson.jpg|Boysson tower, 1478
File:Delfau-sommet-2.jpg|Delfau tower, 1497
File:Lancefoc et Serta.jpg|Lancefoc tower (late 15th c.) and Serta tower (1529)
File:Olmieres-tour.jpg|Olmières tower, 1503
File:Bernuy-sommet-2.jpg|Bernuy tower, 1504
File:Bruni-tour.jpg|Bruni tower, 1510
File:Tour de Berenguier Bonnefoy 1513.JPG|Beringuier Bonnefoy tower, 1513
File:2_rue_Saint-Rome_-_Tour_Serta.jpg|Serta tower, 1529
File:Toulouse_-_Maison_Pierre_Delfau_-_Porche_PA00094614.jpg|Door of the Hotel Delfau
</gallery>