A pivotal year and a new reopening date for this historic museum in Toulouse
By Quentin Marais
Published on
It is one of cultural lungs of Toulouse. The Musée des Augustins, undergoing major works, will experience a pivotal year in 2023, with a new opening date announced by the town hall.
Extensive works
As for the Augustins, the last few years have been particularly lively. The creation of a new reception hall had been approved during a municipal council in 2017. In June of the same year, the town hall of Toulouse had announced that it wanted create a “contemporary and audacious” building but suitable for style and at the quality of the main building.
In 2020, the renovation of the glass roofs and exhibition halls as well as upgrading to accessibility standards were on the program, with a planned reopening in the second quarter of 2021.
But one of key moments of recent years at the museum has been the discovery of remains of a chapel dating from the 16th century. In May 2022, the work was still ongoing with the creation of a pavilion along the rue de Metz. The partial reopening was planned for the end of the year, before a full reopening for 2024.
A lively first half of 2023
For this high place of Toulouse culture, the next few months will be just as lively. Pierre Esplugas-Labatut, Deputy Mayor in charge of Museums and Contemporary Art, reminds Toulouse news “that we have been long blocked by archaeological excavations which revealed the existence of a Renaissance chapel called Ecce Homo”.
Long discussions followed, “at the highest level, between the Prefecture and the mayor From toulouse “.
“There will be, in the first half of 2023, additional archaeological excavations, and the work should start before the summer. These are double works: both to build the contemporary reception pavilion, and both to restore the cloister.”
“We are working on the first half of 2025”
When could the people of Toulouse hope to clog up this historic architecture again? ” It’s a bit blurry because there are uncertainties related to supplies and delivery times of equipment, which are not certain today”, answers Pierre Esplugas-Labatut. But a niche has already been ticked off: “we are working on the first semester 2025“.
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