In the 16th century, the Renaissance , which called for a return to the models of Roman antiquity, spread throughout Europe from Italy, notably through treatises and engravings referring to the treatise De architectura by Vitruvius 90β20 BC , Roman theorist of ancient architecture. Each center of culture and creation reinterpreted these new references according to its local traditions. At the beginning of the 16th century Toulouse was experiencing a prosperous period.
It was the third largest city in France, a rich and powerful provincial capital that the woad trade was providing with merchants of international stature. These factors of dynamism fostered a deep humanist impulse, affirmed the city's role as a radiant artistic place [ 2 ] and maintained a climate of social emulation in which it was important to be visible. It is therefore the purpose of this article to bring together and to present the various elements of the Renaissance architecture of Toulouse , which earned the city to be described as "the most beautiful city in France" by the scholar Joseph Justus Scaliger at the end of the sixteenth century.
A home of erudition and humanism, Toulouse welcomed the Renaissance and looked back on its prestigious ancient past of which there were few visible remains, the ancient Roman monuments having served as "brick quarries" throughout the Middle Ages.
Faced with a royal administration eager to diminish the prerogatives of the communal power of France's major cities, the municipal institution of Toulouse sought to promote its prestige and legitimacy.
In , at the instigation of the clerk Pierre Salamon, the municipal palace of capitulum chapter became Capitolium Capitol , [ 4 ] reflecting the desire to imitate Rome and its ancient references. These idealized links between the municipal institution of Toulouse and Ancient Rome found expression in the arts and in particular in architecture. Fearing an invasion of Languedoc by the Spanish army of Charles V who was maneuvering in the Pyrenees, and concerned to protect their gunpowder reserve and their precious archives, the capitouls built between and by Laurent Clary a tower then called "Archive tower", which is now called "the Keep" le Donjon in French for its fortified appearance.
