On the banks of the Garonne river, Toulouse has the nickname, “La Ville Rose”.
That’s because so many of the city’s great buildings are made with a pinkish brick, giving the cityscape a look that you can’t compare with any other city. Much of this architecture was funded by trading the city’s greatest commodity, woad, which was a blue dye used in medieval and renaissance textiles. Toulouse is now Europe’s aeronautical capital, with the largest space center in Europe, and where Airbus has its headquarters. Toulouse will attract curious minds with fascinating museums exploring the universe, prehistoric times, ancient art, the natural world, as well as art from the Gothic era to the impressionist. Discover the best things to do in Toulouse.
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1. Basilique Saint-Sernin
Completed in the 1100s, the UNESCO-listed Saint-Sernin Basilica may be the largest romanesque church in Europe. There’s also a large number of relics in the crypt, more than in any other church in France, and many were donated by Charlemagne to the abbey which stood on this site in the 800s.
Outside, the five-story brick tower is unmistakable, and as you look up you can see where construction was stopped in the 1100s and restarted in the 1300s from the shape of the arches.
You might also be surprised at Porte des Miégeville, with a precious Roman sculpture depicting Lazarus and Dives above the door.
2. Place du Capitole
It doesn’t matter if you’re shopping, sightseeing or painting the town red, during your break in Toulouse you’ll always be drawn back to the square in front of the city hall.
The city seems to be drawn towards this place, and the majestic pink palace in front of you is older than it looks. There are fragments going back to the 1100s, and if you walk around to the rear of the Capitole you can see the building’s renaissance donjon.
Go inside for a tour to gaze at the frescoes on the ceiling of the Salle des Illustres, and the heartwarming images in the Salle Gervais, where the 19th-century artist painted allegories of love, as this was the town hall’s wedding chamber.
3. Muséum de Toulouse
Not a museum about Toulouse, but France’s largest ethnological and natural history institution outside Paris: The Muséum de Toulouse presents more than 2.5 million exhibits.
If you have a thing for natural science you could immerse yourself in botanical, entomological, mineralogical, ornithological, paleontological and many other “logical” galleries for hours! Many of these collections were gathered by the most inquisitive minds of the 19th century.
This applies to the prehistory section, with Neolithic axes, a Mesolithic tomb and a bronze necklace from the Holocene epoch.
4. Foundation Bemberg
Hôtel dieuAssézat, the famous house of the B Foundation Foundation, is a miracle. This mansion was designed by Nicolas Bachelier, the most prestigious Renaissance architect of the city of Toulouse and took nearly 30 years to complete.
It was built for Pierre d’Assézat, who built his fortune on the woad trade, but was penniless by the time his plush palace was completed in 1581. The inner art gallery is also magnificent and was founded based on a collection by Georges Bprice, an extraordinary 20th-century patron of the arts.
It is difficult to choose outstanding paintings, but you have to see works by Venetian people like Canaletto, and French artists like Monet, Pierre Bonnard Matisse, and Cézanne.
5. Musée Saint-Raymond
Next to the Saint-Sernin Basilicas in Toulouse’s archaeological museum. As is often the case, the museum building warrants your attention; erected in 1523, it was a school for poorer students at the University of Toulouse.
The exhibits run from prehistory up to the year 1000 and deal with a host of Mediterranean civilizations, but with an accent on Gallo-Roman history.
6. Church of the Jacobins
This Jacobin monastery is the last word in gothic design in southern France. It was finished in the 1300s and is noted for its awesome dimensions, with a double nave and vaults that reach almost 30 meters.
The best is at the top, where you can see the palm tree, the tallest column with 22 ribs bent outwards to form the tunnel. You can see how it got its name, as this element has an arresting organic quality to it.
The ruins of Thomas Aquinas, one of the great thinkers of the middle ages, are also found in this church.
7. Cité de l’Espace
If there was ever a day out that could recapture your childlike sense of wonder, it’s a theme park all about space exploration. If you or your little ones are fascinated by the cosmos then you could devote a day to watching mind-expanding IMAX movies and planetarium shows.
Space travel geeks might hyperventilate when they set foot inside the actual Mir space station, which orbited the earth from 1986 to 2001. There’s also a life-size replica of the European Ariane 5 rocket, which has completed more than 70 successful missions since 2003.
8. Musée des Augustins
Taken from Musée Saint-Raymond, this attraction includes art and sculpture from the medieval period until the early 20th century. Once again, the building is an important ingredient, dating to the early-1300s and exemplifying the southern Gothic style.
The medieval religious sculpture in this museum is superb and was rescued from convents and churches that were being destroyed around the region in the 1800s.
The fine art collection is mostly from between the 1400s and 1700s, with works by an array of Italian renaissance artists, and Flemish and Dutch masters like Rubens, van Dyck, van Goyen, Cuyp and Jordaens.
9. Jardin Japonais
In Companies Cafarelli, some way north of the center is a park classified as a French “Jardin remarquable”. It has a Japanese garden, which is quite unusual with the southern latitude of the city of Toulouse and was inspired by the gardens in Kyoto between the 14th and 16th centuries.
The garden is full of symbols and is beneficial for meditation and rest, but it will help if you visit early when there are few people around. Cross the bridge across the pond to the island symbolizing paradise, and look down at the koi and the turtle.
There is a bust in the garden of Taisen Deshimaru, who founded many Sōtō zen dojos throughout France in the 70s.
10. Canal du Midi
Another UNESCO site the Canal du Midi is not just another waterway, but a mind-boggling work of 17th-century engineering; part of the 430-kilometer Canal des Deux Mers that linked the Mediterranean with the Atlantic.
Strictly speaking, the Canal du Midi is just the 240-kilometer-long waterway that begins in Toulouse and stretches to the Étang de Thau by the coastal city of Sète. It was ordered by Louis XIV and made by the genius Pierre Paul-Riquet, taking 15 years to complete. Walk or ride on the towpath next to its green waters, or check out the old locks on a cruise.
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