A THOUSAND AND ONE TREASURES OF INHERITANCE

A city in the countryside, it exists! Once you’ve gone through the country with all it’s orchards and coloured fields, you will arrive to Montauban.

This pink brick city has kept it’s own identity, renovated it’s monuments, witness of an eventful history and faces the challenges of the future.
Easily accessible, near Toulouse, this city attracts new companies but keeps it’s quality of life.
You can have a nice walk through the pedestrian streets that will lead you to the 17th century “Place Nationale”, in the heart of the historical city. It offers it’s magnificence between the four façades in brick.While strolling under the arcades we can imagine this square swarming with life, from the drapers to the cobblers.
Nowadays, restaurants and cafés with busy terraces will urge you to have a break and drink a nice cool refreshment during the hot summer days.

Next to this square, the Saint Jacques church reflects 7 centuries of History.
Don’t be frightened if you hear the echo of Louis XIII’s armies cannonades.
If you lift up your head, you will see the numerous cannonball impacts on the façades of the church, from the time when the city was besieged. This place pulls you to a feeling of meditation and suggests. Then your attention will be caught by the imposing palace situated right below the church.
This palace, that used to be Episcopal, has now become the Ingres museum since the 19th century.
What a chance for Montauban to have a famous painter born here. His works attracts so many people.
As soon as you push the door, the calmness of the courtyard will invite you to the visit starting with Bourdelle’s imposing sculpture. Beside the museum, the outside stairs will lead you to the bank of the Tarn River, with a pink brick bridge with 7 ogival arches stretching across it.
The “Pont Vieux” offers an unique panorama of the left bank, lined with private drapers mansions who enriched themselves during the 18th century.
From this site, you can see the entire historical old city and among the pink tiles stands a white stone building. It is the Cathedral Notre Dame, which symbolizes the power of the Catholic religion on the Protestant city.