About this place
Set into a row of shops and cafes on the old pilgrim street, Notre-Dame du Taur is instantly recognizable by its facade, which rises as a single flat wall of pink brick crowned with slender hexagonal towers and a line of battlements. This design, known as a clocher-mur or bell wall, became a model copied by country churches across the region. The church marks the place where, according to legend, the body of Bishop Saturnin finally came loose from the bull that had dragged him to his death, and its name comes from the Latin taurus, meaning bull. Built mostly in the fourteenth century in the sober southern Gothic style, it was one of the first buildings in France to be protected as a historic monument, classified in 1840. Inside, nineteenth century paintings by the Toulouse artist Bernard Benezet retell the martyrdom, while a much older medieval fresco survives high on the south wall.
Key facts
- 250 AD — The year Saint Saturnin was martyred near this spot by a raging bull
- 1840 year — Among the very first French buildings classified as a historic monument
- 38 figures — Make up the medieval fresco of Saint Joseph's family tree on the south wall
📍 Rue du Taur 12 bis, 31000, Toulouse