 The Musée des Augustins de Toulouse was one of fifteen museums founded in provincial centres, by a decree of 13 Fructidor year IX (31 August 1801), which was promulgated by the minister of the interior, Jean-Antoine Chaptal (Arrêté Chaptal du 14 fructidor an IX).At the start of the 19th century several medieval buildings (notably the refectory) were demolished and in their place Viollet-le-Duc and his pupil Darcy put up new exhibition galleries, accessed by a Gothic Revival monumental stair offering an interplay of richly complicated vaulting systems.The works continued from 1873 to 1901, when the museum reopened.