Hôtel d'Assézat

The Hôtel d'Assézat is the finest Renaissance mansion in Toulouse, a brick and stone palace in the old centre, near the Capitole, and it is a monument to the wealth that came from a humble plant. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Toulouse grew rich on pastel, the blue dye made from the woad plant, which was exported across Europe, and the region was known as the land of Cocagne, after the balls of woad paste. Merchants who traded in pastel became some of the richest men in France and built magnificent houses, and the Hôtel d'Assézat, built from 1555 for Pierre d'Assézat, who had made his fortune in the trade, is the greatest of them.

The architect was Nicolas Bachelier, a Toulouse sculptor and builder who had studied the architecture of Italy and who introduced the new classical language of the Renaissance to the city. The house was completed in 1562 by his son. It is entered through a monumental gateway, which leads into a courtyard, the Cour d'Honneur, where the facades are decorated with the three classical orders superimposed on one another, the Doric on the ground floor, the Ionic above and the Corinthian at the top, in the manner of Roman buildings. The ornament, with its rich carving, shows the influence of Italian Mannerism. The house also has a tall tower, topped by a lantern, which is the highest private tower in Toulouse, and which gave the owner a view over the city and a way to show his status. The materials are the warm brick of Toulouse and white stone.

Pierre d'Assézat belonged to the group of merchants who had turned to Calvinism, and the years when the house was built were years of religious conflict. In 1562, at the start of the Wars of Religion, fighting broke out in Toulouse between Protestants and Catholics, and Assézat's position was shaken. In later centuries the mansion passed through several owners, and it fell into disrepair, but it was restored in the twentieth century.

Today the house holds the Fondation Bemberg, an art collection that was assembled by the Argentine collector Georges Bemberg and which includes paintings by Impressionists and post-Impressionists such as Bonnard, Pissarro and Monet, along with older masters and decorative arts, displayed in the historic rooms. The house is also the home of the Académie des Jeux floraux, a poetry society founded in 1323 and said to be the oldest literary society in Europe, and of other learned societies. Visitors can enter the courtyard freely, while the museum has an entrance fee and set hours.

It suits lovers of architecture and art, and a visit takes one to two hours. The Capitole, the Musée des Augustins and the Basilique Notre-Dame du Taur are nearby.