Ancien couvent des Augustins

English translation

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History

The convent of the Augustinians, built during the 14th century and the beginning of the 16th century, is decreed national property in 1789. Part of the buildings is sold in 1793 to private individuals, notably the great refectory which occupied the entire west side. By decree of 19 December 1793, a provisional Museum of the South of the Republic is created. In 1794, it is decided to install this museum in the conventual church; the lateral chapels are then blocked up. The museum is opened to the public on 27 August 1795. From 1823 to 1830, the east wing and the church are damaged by alterations intended to create exhibition rooms. The nave is transformed into a "Temple of arts". The museum and the cloister of the Augustinians are classified as historic monuments by the first list of monuments in 1840; the great refectory and other buildings are not protected at the same time because they are private property. In 1868, the great refectory is razed by the town to allow for the opening of rue Alsace-Lorraine. In 1873, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc submits a first project for the enlargement of the museum, proposing the immediate construction of a wing along the south side of the cloister. He only draws the footprint of the west wing. In February 1874, the municipal council votes for the museum restoration project, supported by the Toulouse architect Jacques-Jean Esquié, collaborator of Viollet-le-Duc. In 1878, Viollet-le-Duc and Denis Darcy propose the construction of a large wing of two levels bordering rue Alsace-Lorraine. Viollet-le-Duc dies on 17 September 1879 and Darcy continues the project alone. At the request of the council of civil buildings, Darcy aligns the west facade of the new wing on rue Alsace-Lorraine and gives more amplitude to the pavilion of the grand staircase, enlargement made possible by the complete destruction of the south wing, composed of the chapel called Ecce Homo, the library and the pharmacy. Work begins in August 1880 and is not completed until 1893. The new west wing is inaugurated in 1896. Darcy draws up the plans for the south pavilion in 1893, located at the corner of rues Alsace-Lorraine and Metz. Work does not begin until 1900, probably due to lack of funds, and is completed in 1904. Darcy's wing is distinguished by the massiveness of its high brick walls, punctuated by large round-arch arches and enhanced with stone decoration. The eclecticism of styles, Neo-Romanesque, Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissance, is characteristic of the taste of the 1870s-1880s. The museum underwent, from 1948 onwards, a long campaign of restoration and reorganization which ends in 1980 with the construction of a new reception space in the extension of the east wing.