Toulouse: the little secrets of the office of the mayor of Toulouse, before the Heritage Days
The mayor of Toulouse opens his office and the mayor’s cabinet, this Saturday, September 17 on the occasion of Heritage Days. Jean-Luc Moudenc made us visit it in preview
The office of the mayor of Toulouse is located on the left side of the facade of the Capitole, on the ground floor. In the row of rooms that begins with the Salon Rouge, the mayor’s “official” office, Jean-Luc Moudenc’s office is the smallest. This is followed by that of his chief of staff Eric Fournier, then that of his chief of staff, Arnaud Mounier.
“I took the smallest, to show that the mayor is only passing through”, assures the mayor, re-elected in June 2020. The walls are made of brick, the parquet floor is covered with a colored carpet, the ceiling is 3.5m high; there are protective bars on the very large window, which looks directly onto the Place du Capitole.
Jean-Claude Gaudin’s magic wand
The desk is a thin block of glass. But it’s the low cabinet, placed lengthwise along the wall, facing the desk, that catches the eye. A “bric-a-brac” of gifts and objects is deposited there, such as this collection of ceremonial medals. “This is what most impresses visitors to Heritage Days,” said the mayor.
Visits on September 17 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday September 17 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Jean-Luc Moudenc opens his office and the Mayor’s Office, a symbolic place for the expression of citizenship and its exercise, to the public, as he has done for many years. The opportunity to discover a historic monument as a preamble to the Heritage Night which will take place there in the evening.
Free visits without registration, Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., every 20 minutes
Meet in the Cour Henri IV, opposite the reception point of the Town Hall.
A whimsical but oh so symbolic object, a plastic wand from Harry Potter. “It was my friend Jean-Claude Gaudin, then mayor of Marseille, who sent me to 2020, a few weeks before the municipal elections. He saw that the polls were tight, he told me “Jean-Luc, make good use of it…”.
This Saturday, Jean-Luc Moudenc will visit his office to hundreds of Toulouse residents, during Heritage Days. They could see the bust of Jaurès, sculpted by André Abbal, who has been sitting in the office of the mayors of Toulouse for decades. “Jaurès was elected to the municipal council of Toulouse, before being a deputy for Tarn”, recalls the mayor.
The Occitan cross taken by Thomas Pesquet into space
On the wall, multiple works and frames, such as this Occitan flag, returned to the ISS by Thomas Pesquet, and offered on his return to Earth to the mayor of Toulouse; but also a canvas painted by the famous Toulouse graffiti artist Reso. On a round glass table at the entrance, a dozen boxes of teas, of which the mayor is very fond. A molding of the bust of Pierre Baudis also sits on the base cabinet. The bust of Dominique Baudis sits enthroned in the adjoining Salon Rouge.
Stade Toulousain is very present, with the Brennus Shield miniature of 2019; also attached to the wall, a photo with the players is next to the profile of the Albi-Toulouse stage of the Tour de France 2019, offered by the director of the Tour.
Never air conditioning
On a coat rack, behind the door, a navy blue Airbus cap and the mayor’s tricolor scarf. Behind the mayor’s chair, a painting painted in 1942 by Eugène Claudius-Petit, a figure of the Resistance and friend of the mayor, represents Sainte-Victoire.
In a small niche dug into the wall at ground level, a photo of Jacques Barrot, former minister, figure of centrism, who died in 2014, stands alongside a geological coring of line B of the metro, removed several tens of meters deep during of the shipyard in the early 2000s.
This office of the Capitol, functional, the mayor shares it with that of the Metropolis. There is air conditioning, but it is never turned on. “When it works, I quickly have a sore throat,” says Jean-Luc Moudenc.