Toulouse

Toulouse, city in southern France, capital of Haute-Garonne Department, on the Garonne River and the Canal du Midi. It is a major commercial, transportation, and manufacturing center, noted for the production of aircraft and aerospace equipment.

Places of interest in Toulouse include the large Romanesque Basilica of Saint Sernin (begun 11th century), which contains the tomb of Saint Thomas Aquinas; the Gothic Cathedral of Saint Étienne (begun 12th century); and the Church of Notre Dame la Blanche (restored in the 16th century). The city also contains many mansions in the Renaissance style; these include the Hôtel Felzins, the Maison de Pierre, and the Hôtel d'Assézat. The latter mansion is the site of the Fondation Bemberg, a collection of art from the last five centuries. The mansion also serves as the seat of the Académie des Jeux Floraux, a literary society (1323) that holds an annual poetry contest with prizes of flowers made of gold and silver. Also of note are the imposing Capitole (18th century), formerly the city hall; the universities of Toulouse I, II, and III (1229, reorganized 1970), as well as a Roman Catholic institute (1877) and a polytechnic institute (1970); a museum of fine arts, housed in a former Augustinian convent (14th century); and an astronomical observatory (1733).

As the Gallic city of Tolosa, the community was important long before the Roman conquest of Gaul in the 1st century bc. It became an episcopal see in the 4th century (raised to an archiepiscopal see in the early 14th century) and was the capital of the Visigoths (see Goths) from 419 to 508, when it was captured by Clovis I, king of the Franks. It served as the seat of the Carolingian kingdom of Aquitaine from 781 to 843, when the separate county of Toulouse was established. The counts subsequently gained control of most of the vast Languedoc region, and their court was noted for attracting major literary figures, including leading troubadours (poet-musicians). In the early 13th century the city was plundered during the crusade against the Albigenses (members of a religious sect considered heretical by the Roman Catholic church). In 1271 Toulouse passed to the French crown, but it retained considerable autonomy until the French Revolution (1789-1799). During the Reformation many Protestants lived in Toulouse. The city joined the Roman Catholic cause during the Wars of Religion (late 16th century), however, and in 1562 some 4,000 Protestant Huguenots of the city were killed. During the Napoleonic Wars, Toulouse was captured in 1814 by the British under the Duke of Wellington. The city's main industrial growth dates from the mid-19th century. During World War II it was occupied by the Germans from 1942 to 1944. Population (2005 estimate) 435,000.