Albi between the end of the 19th century and 1930
Cité épiscopale d’Albi
In the second half of the 19th century and into the early 20th, Albi’s economic and demographic development continued accompanied with the contingent urban organisation up until the 1930s.
The town’s industries developed with a prevalence of millinery but also the opening of the Albi-Cagnac mines (1890), the establishment of a glass-making factory (1896) and the construction of a theatre (1892), post office (1900) and covered market (1902).
The inauguration of the Toulouse-Lautrec museum followed in 1922. At the artist’s death in 1901, his mother, the Countess Adèle Tapié de Celeyran, politely refused offers from the national museums but instead chose to bequeath his works to the city of Albi (donation the 31st of July 1922).
The Berbie palace, which since 1823 had ceased to house the Episcopal seat, was relieved of this defining function in 1905 by the law separating the Church from the State. It could, therefore, play host to the vast collection of works of Toulouse-Lautrec, constituting the largest in the world of this unique artist.
