"Cathars". Toulouse in the Crusade

How do you create a good history exhibition? The recipe may seem simple, but first you need a good subject, if possible one that will appeal to a broad public, perhaps with a touch of polemic, but above all a good dose of education to make an often scholarly, even erudite subject intelligible to as many visitors as possible. The Musée Saint-Raymond, in association with the Couvent des Jacobins in Toulouse, has succeeded in doing just that, with an exemplary exhibition that has been a resounding success given the difficulty of the subject, which can easily be described as inflammable. While the Musée Carnavalet refuses to talk about the "Terror" in its exhibition "Paris 1793-1794. A revolutionary year", it is the use of inverted commas that is most appealing to the many visitors [1] of the Toulouse event, which sets out to unravel - to deconstruct, some would no doubt say - a veritable historical myth patiently exploited by regionalist movements in the 19th century and by tourist brochures right up to the present day!

1. Jean-Paul Laurens (1838-1921)
The Languedoc Agitator, 1887
Oil on canvas - 149 x 115.5 cm
Toulouse, Musée des Augustins
Photo: Musée des Augustins

See the image in its page

The way the exhibition is divided between the two sites in the Pink City has its qualities - and its faults, as we shall come back to - but in the end it provides an effective way of looking at both the origins of a documented historical episode, the Crusade against the Albigensians, and the account of it that was drawn up by 19th-century historians and writers. As the exhibition explains, the memory of the Occitan "heretics" was revived in the modern era and became a symbol of political struggle. The painting (ill. 1) by Jean-Paul Laurens tells no different story: attached to his Languedoc roots, he used the figure of Bernard Délicieux confronting the Inquisitors to spread his own anti-clerical convictions. While it’s best to start your visit at the…