Collège de Foix in Toulouse, Gothic college building in Toulouse, France

Collège de Foix is a brick structure with turrets and a vaulted cellar organized around a central courtyard with galleries on three floors. The building retains its Gothic arches and Renaissance-era windows throughout its layout and design.

Pierre de Foix, cardinal and Franciscan, founded the college in 1457 beside the Cordeliers convent to house twenty-five scholarship students from the territories of the House of Foix, four of them priests; no courses were taught there. Spared in 1551 when most Toulouse colleges were suppressed, it declined until closure during the French Revolution. In the 19th century Canon Maurice Garrigou bought part of the buildings for the Sisters of Notre-Dame de la Compassion, who lodged young women students.

The brick facades and pointed arches in the galleries reflect the Gothic tradition of the building's design. The mullioned windows and vaulted spaces show how Renaissance craftsmanship shaped the structure's character over time.

The building is currently used by the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre-Dame de la Compassion and is not open for regular public tours inside. You can view the exterior and courtyard facade from the street to observe its architectural features from outside.

The college was nicknamed "collège de la Vache" after the weathervane on its roof, which showed the cow from the arms of the House of Béarn. Its library, given by Pierre de Foix, held books that had belonged to Pope Benedict XIII; most were bought by Colbert in 1680 and passed to the royal library.