The Capitole is Toulouse's city hall, the long brick-and-stone palace that fills the east side of Place du Capitole. Its 135-metre façade, finished in 1760, has eight pink marble columns that recall the capitouls, the elected magistrates who governed the city for six centuries. The same building also houses the Théâtre du Capitole, so on one floor the city council meets and on another an opera is staged.
The Capitole at a glance
- Where: the east side of Place du Capitole, the main square of central Toulouse.
- Built: on a site used by the city's councillors since 1190; the present façade was completed in 1760, the keep in 1530.
- By: the façade was designed by the Toulouse painter and architect Guillaume Cammas; the keep was rebuilt in 1873 to plans by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
- What it is today: Toulouse's town hall, with ceremonial rooms open to visitors outside official events, and the Théâtre du Capitole opera house in the south wing.
- Time needed: 15 minutes for the square and façade, 45 minutes if you go inside to the Salle des Illustres and the courtyard.
From the capitouls' chapter house to city hall
In 1190 Toulouse's councillors bought a first building here as their seat of government. They met in a chapter (capitulum), which is where the name comes from: the magistrates became the capitouls, and in 1522 the town clerk Pierre Salmon called their house the Capitole, a deliberate echo of the Capitol of ancient Rome. A great fire in 1463 damaged the building. In 1525 the capitouls decided to build a keep, the donjon, to protect the city archives and gunpowder; it was finished in 1530. The gateway of the Henri IV courtyard, completed in 1546, is the other main survivor of these older buildings.
The capitouls lost their power with the French Revolution, but their palace kept growing. Guillaume Cammas gave it the long classical front, finished in 1760, in Toulouse's typical pink brick with stone trim. In the courtyard behind, Henri II de Montmorency, governor of Languedoc, was beheaded in 1632 for rebelling against Cardinal Richelieu; a plaque marks the spot. After the unrest of 1871, the keep was rebuilt by Viollet-le-Duc in a northern French style, with a pointed slate roof that looks rather out of place in the south. Around 1900 the first-floor rooms were decorated with huge paintings by artists from Toulouse.
What to look for
- The eight pink marble columns in the centre of the façade, meant to recall the eight capitouls, the city's magistrates.
- The Salle des Illustres: a long gallery with columns, gilding and wall paintings of Toulouse's history, among them Raymond IV welcoming Pope Urban II in 1096 and the city's defence during the Albigensian Crusade. Jean-Paul Laurens is one of the painters.
- The Salle Henri-Martin: large canvases by Henri Martin (1860–1943) of country life and the banks of the Garonne; in one, 'Les Rêveurs', the socialist leader Jean Jaurès strolls along the river bank.
- The Henri IV courtyard: a statue of the king made during his lifetime above the 1546 gateway, and the plaque recalling Montmorency's execution.
- The Occitan cross set into the square: a 1995 bronze by Raymond Moretti, its 12 points surrounded by the signs of the zodiac.
- Under the arcades on the west side of the square, look up: Moretti also painted the ceilings in 1997 with scenes from the city's history.
The capitouls, a guild of power
Being capitoul was more than a job: it made you noble. The office brought hereditary nobility, so Toulouse's merchant families competed hard for it, and each year's capitouls had their portraits painted in official registers, the 'Annales'. Many of these painted pages were burned during the Revolution as symbols of privilege, but some survive in the city archives. The capitouls wore robes of red and black, and these are often said to be the origin of the red and black of Toulouse's rugby club, Stade Toulousain.
Tips for your visit
- Look at the façade in the late afternoon: the low sun turns the brick a deep pink and explains Toulouse's nickname, la Ville rose.
- Go inside if the rooms are open: walk through the main entrance and up the grand staircase. Weddings and council meetings sometimes close the rooms, so be flexible.
- For the best photo of the whole façade, stand at the far side of the square near the arcades; the Occitan cross makes a good foreground.
Nearby
- The keep (Donjon du Capitole): behind the city hall in Square Charles-de-Gaulle, now the tourist office, a minute's walk away.
- Basilica of Saint-Sernin: one of the largest Romanesque churches in Europe, at the end of Rue du Taur, a short walk north.
- Couvent des Jacobins: the Gothic Dominican church with its 'palm tree' vault and the relics of Thomas Aquinas, a few minutes' walk west.
- Notre-Dame du Taur: the brick church with a flat bell-wall façade on Rue du Taur, on the way to Saint-Sernin.
See Toulouse with World City Trail
Our Toulouse scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 3 hours, with about 45 minutes of walking. Its stops include the Basilica of Saint-Sernin and the Musée Saint-Raymond, the archaeology museum beside it.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Toulouse.
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Facts checked in October 2026.