The Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem

Acquired by the Ministry of Culture and Communication in 1996, the Hôtel des Chevaliers de Saint-Jean-de-jerusalem has since been the subject of scientific investigations, bringing together researchers from all disciplines (archaeology, anthropology, archives, history, art history, etc.) to enrich the history.

Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Les excavations carried out in 2003 - 2004, at the location of the underground parking lot of the Hotel Saint-Jean, have uncovered a vast building built during the 1^er century of our era, at the corner of two streets quite close to the forum, the center of the city. This building had porticoes along the streets as well as two large basins inside; it was refurbished at the end of antiquity, during the fourth century, and then destroyed. Towards the An Mil, there are several storage silos of agricultural commodities.

Middle Ages

Thanks to several donations made by the family of Toulouse early in the XII^e the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, one of whose vocations is to welcome pilgrims and provide care to the sick, were able to establish themselves in Toulouse in a district occupied mainly by a hospital and two churches: Sainte-Marie-de-la-Dalbade and Saint-JosephRémi.

Erected as a grand priory in 1315, the hospital is part of a very active neighbourhood of craftsmen and, among them, thee cobbler Pierre Nègre, whose memory is perpetuated by an engraved marble plate placed in the cloister of the priory.
Enclosed by walls, the site then includes a hospital, the church of Saint-Rémi (which will later take the name of Saint-Jean), a cloister whose excavation allowed to find the trace and to locate one of its chapels called of Saint-JeanLeonard, the hospitaller’s home lined with seven shops opening onto rue de la Dalbade, a powerful tower containing the archives and relics as well as a cemetery whose first graves date back to the X^e or XI^e century.

In 1160, the bishop of Toulouse Raimond II granted the Hospitallers permission to own a cemetery near their church Saint-Rémi. In theory strictly reserved for the Brothers, it welcomes very early lay donors of the Order. The study of the 1,869 burials discovered during the excavations provided information on burial practices: collective burials, individual masonry graves, coffins or simple shrouds. The study of subjects buried confirmed the presence of many pilgrims and identified a predominantly male population as well as nearly 400 graves of children and adolescents.

Another place has also revealed the presence of burials: it is a gallery of the old cloister, which preserves the four children discovered in 1997. Built in the 13th century^e and XIV^e Centuries, they are home to works of the highest quality, especially a sarcophagus with a carved lid, a «recumbent», represents a descendant of Pierre de Toulouse, lieutenant of Count Raimond VII, himself buried in the neighboring underworld which carries exceptional paintings by their workmanship and state of conservation.

The XVII^e and XVIII^e centuries

In the course of the 15th century^e This sector of the city is particularly affected by severe fires since most of the buildings were made of wood and cobs. The reconstruction campaigns are done in brick on larger plots. They mark a radical change in the occupation of this former working-class district. The old priory, dilapidated, does not escape the rule and it is completely rebuilt from 1668, under the aegis of the great prior Paul-Antoine de Robin-Graveson. The design of the palace of classical ordinance is attributed to Jean-Pierre Rivalz (1625-1706), architect and official painter of the city of Toulouse. During this work, which concerns the building overlooking the Dalbade street (porch, chapter hall, apartments, reception room), the burial grounds are abandoned and the cloister demolished.

In 1680, a second phase of work closed the courtyard to the east with the construction of a building with a vaulted stable and rooms for college students. The majority of the painted decorations is part of this last campaign and was carried out during the priorat of François-Paul de Béon-Masses-Cazaux (1674-1687).

The Hotel, deserted during the Revolution, was sold in 1812 to the "merchant" Labourmène who undertook work to install a drapery warehouse, and that destroys the tower of the archives. The church will be destroyed in 1839, to build the building whose facade on the street of Dalbade extends by five spans, identical, that of the Hotel of the XVII^e century.

Contemporary period

From 1903 to 1986, the École supérieure de commerce occupied the former priory. In 1986 and 1990, a large part of the buildings of the XVII^e century is classified or listed as Historical Monuments, and in 2015, all is classified. In 1996, the Ministry of Culture became the owner of the building and, together with Bernard Voinchet, the chief architect of the historical monuments, the project was awarded to Munvez-Castel-Morel for renovation.

In the restructuring project were associated three contemporary artists, Cécile Bart, Stéphane Calais and Philippe Poupet which, through their works installed in four places, have enriched the architectural and historical heritage of the Hotel Saint-Jean. The 1% artistic at the Hôtel Saint-Jean

Established in July 2005, the Occitanie Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs (Toulouse site), meeting under its own roof, is once again making a major building of regional history accessible.

Practical information

The Drac agents organize, during the European Heritage Days (3^e weekend of September), guided tours of part of the interiors of the Hotel Saint-Jean.
For conservation reasons, the Enfeus Gallery is not open to the public.