Our
letter pretty much covers what we learned about it from our visit. It describes
three things we liked a great deal:
The Jacobin Monastery and Church, which has the unusual feature of a single row
of columns down the middle of the nave with palm frond-like arched vaults above them, has a beautiful and serene cloister,and also
contains a reliquary which contains the ashes of
St. Thomas Aquinas, a late thirteenth century Catholic priest and
philosopher; the
Bemberg Museum, a private collection of some very fine works or art; and the main square facing the
Capital building which houses the city hall and the theater. Our
photo page shows all three. The
Wikipedia travel link for
Toulouse shows a better photo of the Capital building.
Two other things about Toulouse are worth a mention. In the
13th century, the
Cathars (Albigensians) were a major competitive force to Catholicism in Toulouse and elsewhere in what
then was known as
Languedoc. And, from about the mid 15th century to the mid 16th, the city prospered from developing a pastel
blue dye from the woad flower that grew prolifically in the area. Beautiful Renaissance buildings in the town were built from
the profits of the pastel traders.
