Church of the Jacobins

Church of the Jacobins (Toulouse)
Church of the Jacobins
Basic information
Location	Toulouse, France
Geographic coordinates	Coordinates: 43°36′14″N 1°26′24″E / 43.6039°N 1.4400°E / 43.6039; 1.4400
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
State	Haute-Garonne
Province	Archdiocese of Toulouse
Region	Midi-Pyrénées
Status	museum
Architectural description
Architectural type	Church
Architectural style	French Gothic architecture

The Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse, France, is a large brick building whose construction started in 1230, and whose architecture influenced the development of the Gothique méridional (southern Gothic) style. The relics of Thomas Aquinas are housed there. In the two centuries following the dissolution of the Dominican Order at the time of the French Revolution it served various different purposes before undergoing major restoration in the 20th century. In the early 21st century it is a museum.

The name Jacobins is the nickname that was given to the Dominican Order in the Middle Ages. Their first convent in Paris was located in the rue Saint-Jacques, (Latin Jacobus), and that name came to be attached to the order itself.

In Languedoc in the early 13th century, Catharism, which the Catholic Church considered a heresy, was strong and growing. In 1215, the future Saint Dominic founded in Toulouse a small community of monastic preachers to combat the heresy, and starting in 1230, the monks began the construction of a small church in which to preach. Built entirely of pink Roman brick, this first building was half as long and half as high as the present church, and very simple in design, in line with the order’s vow of poverty. It consisted of a double nave, one side for the monks, and one for the congregation, separated by pillars and screens.

Over the next century, as congregations grew, the church was enlarged and embellished. Between 1245 and 1252, it was extended with the addition of a choir with side chapels. Between 1275 and 1292, the height of the choir was increased, and a vaulted roof constructed. In response to the technical difficulty posed by creating a vaulted roof for the new space, the builders installed one oversized column in the centre from which the ribs radiated outwards in all directions. This feature has come to be known as Le Palmier des Jacobins, the palm tree of the Jacobins.