Gateway to the Upper Languedoc Regional Natural Park, on the Jean Jaurès scenic road, near the Black Mountain and the Sidobre, Castres is a city with a rich historical and cultural heritage.
Whether it’s the Gallo-Roman site of Gourjade, the Agout’s old houses, the fabulous XVII-Century private hotels, the museums, or the leisure centres, Castres offers you a thousand and one ways to discover the art of living in Occitania.A way station on the road to Santiago de Compostela, Castres begins to expand in the early IXth Century, around the Abbey of Saint Benedict. The dwellings along the Agout are inhabited by weavers, dyers, tanners and dressers, representing the city’s first industrial calling: textile. Its inhabitants fall under the influence of Catharism in the XIIth Century. By the XVIth Century, the Reform hits the region, and confrontations between Catholics and Protestants increase. Henry IV chose Castres, ion 1595, to establish the Chamber of the Edict.
From 1670 to 1760, Castres’ bishops undertake great works: the bishopric, the cathedral, bridges...
THE PONCET HOTEL
Pillars, decorated with caryatids and burden-bearers support a loggia surrounded by a balustrade and Ionian columns.
THE VIVIÈS HOTEL
Built in the late XVIth Century for Monsignor de Rozel, magistrate at the Chamber of the Edict. Today, it hosts the Centre for Contemporary Art.
The Nayrac Hotel
Built in 1620 following the Toulouse architectural style, for Lord Houlet, a rich dry-goods merchant.
LE THÉATRE DE CASTRES :
The theatre, of Italian rococo style, was inaugurated on 17 April 1904. It was built following the designs of Joseph Galinier, Toulouse architect who was a disciple of Garnier. The Castres theatre has the only dome painted by Jean-Paul Laurens.
THE EPISCOPAL PALACE
Around 1669, Monsignor Michel de Tubouf, bishop of Castres, had the episcopal palace built between the Agout River and the Roman tower of Saint Benedict, last remnant of the XII-Century abbey. The plans were drawn up by the architect Mansart. Today, the palace houses the Goya Museum and the Town Hall.
THE GARDENS OF THE EPISCOPAL PALACE
The garden that extends around the Bishopric was designed by Le Nôtre, gardener to the King, in the XVIIth Century. A true jewel, it is one of the rare examples of parterre gardens to be found in France. Le Nôtre dominated irregularities of the trapezoidal terrain which borders the Agout by skewing the composition rightwards, thus affording it greater depth. His masterpiece was the four-compartment parterre, with boxwood arabesques, ending in spiral works supported and crowned with palms and scrolls. The apparent axis of this magnificent building is the water supply point. Furthermore, this garden has been fully preserved, which gives it great historical, cultural and didactic value, both regionally and nationally.
Castres tourist information centre
2 place de la République – 81 100 Castres
Tel: +33 (0)5 63 62 63 62
Website: www.tourisme-castres.fr
Email: accueil@tourisme-castres.fr
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