Les Abattoirs, Modern art museum in Toulouse, France
Les Abattoirs occupies the preserved red-brick buildings of Toulouse's former municipal slaughterhouse, on the left bank of the Garonne. The facade has a pitched roof on dark timber beams, a large round-headed arch above three round-arched doorways with dark metal-framed glass doors, and tan stone banding along the base. Signs mark a bookshop and an auditorium.
Toulouse's municipality bought land from the Hôpital de La Grave in 1826, and the first stone of Urbain Vitry's municipal slaughterhouse was laid in 1827; it opened in 1832. Jean Montariol directed a rehabilitation and extension inaugurated in 1930. The slaughterhouse closed in 1988 and was inscribed as a monument historique on 13 March 1990; the art museum opened in 2000.
The name comes from the municipal slaughterhouse that operated here until 1988. The museum opened in 2000 and holds about 3,880 works, from Alberto Magnelli's 1934 painting to acquisitions of 2020 by Teresa Margolles. Its collection grew from donations by collector Anthony Denney and gallerist Daniel Cordier, and from the former Frac Midi-Pyrénées and Labège contemporary art centre collections.
The museum occupies the preserved buildings of the former municipal slaughterhouse on the left bank of the Garonne, outside the old ramparts. The entrance is on the red-brick facade, where three round-arched openings hold glass double doors marked "Les Abattoirs"; a bookshop and an auditorium are signposted to the right. The site lies in a flood-prone zone by the river.
The museum and the Frac keep separate collections under one roof: about 3,880 works, from Alberto Magnelli's 1934 painting to acquisitions of 2020 by Teresa Margolles. The holdings grew from donations, including those of collector Anthony Denney and gallerist Daniel Cordier, and from the former centre régional d'art contemporain de Labège.
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