Toulouse: Top 12 attractions in the pink French city

Place du Capitole and the Capitole Square

The Place du Capitole and the iconic building of the same name located here are usually the first sights tourists are introduced to in Toulouse.

Place du Capitole was formed during the early Middle Ages, and in the 1990s it was reconstructed and turned into a large pedestrian zone. The square has an original tiled pavement: in its very center is a huge Toulouse cross with zodiacal symbols. On the Capitol Square there is a majestic structure, the facade of which is decorated with 8 columns of pink marble. This Capitol is the city hall. It was built in 1190 and acquired its modern image in 1750.

Currently, the town hall houses the city hall and the opera house, and part of the halls are open to tourists. The interior contains many elements of the XVI-XIX centuries, in particular, we are talking about the ancient wall paintings.

Toulouse Cathedral

Unusual, complex, eclectic: so many adjectives define the style of this cathedral, which dates back to the 5th century. The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Saint-Etienne in Toulouse is recognized as a national monument of the country.

The exact date of construction of the original building is unknown: the first mention of a church in this place dates back to 844. The temple is remarkable for its perfect heterogeneity: its construction stretched over several centuries, and the final construction is even symmetrical. Attention is attracted by the large stained glass socket windows. On major holidays, the cathedral can accommodate about 2 thousand people - and this is not the limit.

Space City

Cite de l'espace or Space City is a theme park whose expositions are focused on space and the conquest of its space.

The park was opened in September 1997 and is located in the eastern suburbs of Toulouse, the "most aerospace" city in France. By 2012, more than 4 million guests had visited the park. During a visit to Space City you can see full-size models of Ariane 5 rockets and the Mir space station, as well as the Soyuz module. In addition, the entertainment center constantly hosts many exhibitions, often interactive. Here you can, for example, help a rocket get into orbit or meet an employee of the French Meteorological Service and try to predict the weather based on his explanations.

Basilica of Saint-Sernin

The Basilica of Saint Sernin is the former monastery church of the Abbey of Saint Sernin, or St. Saturnin, the only one of the monastery buildings to have survived. The basilica is located on the site of a former church, dating back to the 4th century, which housed the body of St. Sernin, the first bishop of Toulouse.

The basilica was built in Romanesque style between 1080 and 1120 and is considered the largest Romanesque house in Europe. The church is particularly notable for the quantity and quality of Romanesque sculptures. In 1998, the basilica was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela.

Augustinian Museum in Toulouse

The paintings and sculptures on display in the museum are works by different masters, schools and times, dating back to the Middle Ages. The collection came into being during the French Revolution, when the church confiscated the property of many wealthy Frenchmen. It was later supplemented by private collectors. In the 19th century it grew so large that additional exhibition galleries had to be hastily completed.

Toulouse Botanical Gardens

This landscape-architectural complex combines the Grand Rhône Park, the magnificent Royal Garden, a museum of natural history, a picturesque pond, ruins of ancient buildings and a large collection of plants brought from all corners of the world.

Here sculptural compositions and English landscapes are harmoniously combined, proud peacocks walk along winding paths, and rare ornamental trees are home to never-silent canaries. The Toulouse Botanical Gardens are a true natural treasure.

Japanese Garden

Another amazingly beautiful natural park in Toulouse is the Japanese Garden, also known as the Japonet Pierre Bodie Garden. It is located in the northern part of the city, in the Compagnie-Caffarelli neighborhood.

This green oasis covers an area of 7000 m². It is home to a bamboo grove, a rock garden, exotic plants, the eternal chirping of birds and ponds with huge carp that love bread.

Jacobin monastery

The Dominican order was founded in Toulouse 1215. The Convent of the Jacobins in Toulouse is considered the mother church of the order.

In the architectural complex of the monastery, the main building is the Church of the Jacobins. It is a large brick building, the construction of which began in 1230. The relics of Thomas Aquinas are kept here.

For two centuries after the dissolution of the Dominican Order in France during the French Revolution, the monastery served various purposes before undergoing a major restoration in the 20th century. It was partially converted into a museum in the early 21st century.

Museum of Antiquity

The Museum of Antiquity of Saint-Raymond was founded in 1891. It occupies an ancient building considered one of the rare examples of medieval academic architecture in Toulouse.

Today, the museum features a collection of about 1,000 artifacts related to Celtic and Romanesque settlements in Toulouse. The most important exhibits came from Shiragane: remarkable sculptures from the Roman period, marble reliefs depicting the exploits of Hercules, expressive portraits of emperors, etc. were found there.

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Water Castle

Such a loud name often deceives tourists. Many people are disappointed to find themselves next to an ordinary water tower, albeit an ancient one. But only until they get inside and see the exhibition devoted to photography.

What are cameras and historical photos doing here? It's simple: the year the tower was built coincides with the year when people got a real photo for the first time in their history.

Museum of Natural Sciences

The natural museum of the city of Toulouse, founded in 1796. The area of the museum halls is 6000 m². It houses more than 2.5 million exhibits of natural history.

The Toulouse Museum was founded by the French naturalist Philippe Pico de Laperouse in 1796 in the premises of a former monastery. Initially the museum was intended only for scientists, but later, starting in 1865, it became a public museum. At the same time, the university botanical garden was moved to the territory of the museum.

The Toulouse Museum is the first museum in the world to have a prehistoric department.

Museum of Contemporary Art in Toulouse

The museum with a somewhat creepy name Les Abattoirs ("The Slaughterhouses") is dedicated to contemporary art in all its forms and manifestations: painting, sculpture, photography.

Today it is not only a museum, but also a modern art center and a regional foundation for contemporary art. The Association of Contemporary Art was established in Toulouse back in 1991 and in order to create the core of the collection it was necessary to use the funds of the Augustinian Museum. In 1995 the future museum was allowed to occupy the building of the former slaughterhouse, and in 2000 the museum was opened to the public.

Today in the funds of the museum there are about 4 thousand works. The core of the permanent collection of "modern classics" are works from the 1950s, illustrating the various movements and styles that emerged after World War II, such as Art Brut, lyrical abstraction, informal art or Cobra.