Unterwegs

Sights The Capitole

Built: 1190, 18th and 20th centuries.

History and features: in Toulouse, there is no town hall, but a majestic Capitole. An iconic building, it houses the city council, a theatre and state rooms where you might bump into the city’s celebrities. The seat of municipal power since its construction – commissioned by the Capitouls in the 12th century – and transformed and embellished over the centuries, the Capitole displays its majestic neoclassical façade on the unmissable square of the same name.

Its walls recount the great moments in Toulouse’s history: from the Cathar period to the creation of the Floral Games, from the Counts of Toulouse to the siege of the city.

Upstairs, visitors pass through magnificent reception rooms, adorned with Paul Gervais’s allegories of Love and Henri Martin’s ten giant canvases, notably the Salle des Illustres (Illustrious Hall), whose paintings trace the history of Toulouse and whose busts bring to life the figures who have left their mark on the city.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1840, 1911 and 1995.

Construction: 11th century.

Style: Romanesque.

History and features: this 11th-century brick-and-stone basilica is nothing less than one of the greatest Romanesque buildings in the Western world. A former stop on the Way of St James, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. Beneath its octagonal bell tower lies a vast vaulted nave 21-metres high, as well as a crypt housing numerous relics. Among them are those of Saint Sernin, a martyred bishop of the 3rd century after whom the basilica is named. Visitors can also admire the enamelled reliquary of the True Cross, shaped like a sarcophagus. In the richly decorated transepts, one can discover moving medieval frescoes. The basilica and its immediate surroundings are the subject of a major restoration project known as “Grand Saint-Sernin”.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1840. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela.

Construction: 13th and 14th centuries.

Style: Gothic.

History: the convent was built in four phases on land acquired in 1229 on the northern section of the old Roman rampart, using funds donated by a wealthy member of the Capitoul, Pons de Capdenier. The first phase of construction began in 1230 and involved building a church with a rectangular plan, in keeping with the ideal of poverty that characterised the Mendicant Orders. The second phase of expansion lasted from 1245 to 1252 and involved extending the church eastwards, where a new chancel was built, complete with burial chapels. The third phase (from 1275 to 1315) was particularly significant, providing the church with an apse whose Gothic ribbed vaults, rising to a height of 28 metres, are supported by three tall columns aligned along the east-west axis of the existing piers. Rising from the top of the eastern column, 22 ribs form a gigantic mineral palm with a geometric branching pattern. The bell tower was completed in 1298 and houses the University bell; its 45-metre-high tower then supported an octagonal spire which was destroyed during the Revolution. The last phase of construction took place in the 14th century and served to eliminate the contrast between the palm-shaped vault of the apse and the timber-framed nave.

Features: the most striking feature that will surprise visitors is the unique palm-shaped vault. The church, with its double nave featuring painted decoration and superb stained-glass windows, has also housed the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas since 1369. As for the convent’s cloister, an oasis of tranquillity in the city, it regularly hosts concerts and exhibitions. A jewel of southern Gothic art, this complex was founded in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Dominican Order.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1840.

Several canals run through the city: Canal du Midi, Canal de Brienne and Canal Latéral à la Garonne. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Canal du Midi links Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea. Built during the reign of Louis XIV by Pierre-Paul Riquet and extended in the 19th century by the Garonne Side Canal to allow navigation to the Atlantic, this waterway can be explored on foot or by bike, or even by boat. In summer, visitors can enjoy the cool shade of its plane-tree-lined avenues and its calm, green waters.

Built: 1825.

Style: Neoclassical.

History: in 1823, the city of Toulouse decided to consolidate its various abattoirs onto a single site. In 1825, architect Urbain Vitry was commissioned to design the building. He created a basilica-style structure, characterised by symmetrical layout and a neoclassical architectural style.

Features: in these former abattoirs, now converted into a museum of modern and contemporary art, there have been no animals for a long time… This unusual venue dedicates its 3,000 m² to the 4,000 works in its permanent collection and to the major exhibitions it regularly hosts, for which it is renowned (Franz Gertsch, Dado, Daniel Spoerri, Roland Topor…). The very spacious galleries allow for a pleasant visitor experience, even when the museum is busy. The collection features the greatest names in modern and contemporary art: Fontana, Riopelle, Chaissac, Hartung… Outside, 16 monumental works form an original and colourful trail that begins in front of the museum entrance with Fernand Léger’s Women with a parrot.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1990.

Built: 16th century.

Style: Renaissance

History and features: this magnificent townhouse was commissioned by a wealthy merchant, Pierre d’Assézat, who made his fortune in the pastel trade in the 16th century and served as a capitoul in 1552 and 1562. He entrusted the construction to one of Toulouse’s most famous architects, Nicolas Bachelier, and work began in 1555. The courtyard is built of brick, but the decoration is in stone, creating a striking aesthetic effect. Two sides of the courtyard feature a three-storey façade superimposing the three classical orders (Ionic, Doric and -Corinthian). The imposing stair tower at the corner rises high enough to be visible from a distance. Together with the loggia, it incorporates all the elements characteristic of a Renaissance-era townhouse. It is one of the earliest examples of French classicism. The main part of the townhouse was completed in 1562. Having converted to Calvinism, Assézat was expelled from the town and dispossessed of his townhouse that same year. After being reinstated and then condemned once more in 1572, he renounced his Protestant faith and died in 1581 in his townhouse, which remained in his family until 1761. It then became the property of Nicolas-Joseph Marcassus de Puymaurin, president of the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Toulouse. Théodore Ozenne, who purchased the building in 1894, bequeathed it to the city upon his death so that it might house learned societies. From 1980 onwards, the city began restoring the historic buildings and constructing a modern extension.

Current use: in 1994, Georges Bemberg, a wealthy Argentine art collector, loaned his remarkable collection (1,100 works comprising paintings, sculptures and artefacts) to the local council for 99 years so that it could be made accessible to the public. Among the items on display, paintings and drawings take centre stage, including, for example, a unique collection of over thirty canvases by Pierre Bonnard and works by great painters from various European schools of painting, spanning the 15th to the 20th centuries (Canaletto, Tiepolo, François Boucher, Cranach the Elder, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Anthony van Dyck, Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani...).

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1914.

Construction: 1931 and 1934

Style: Art Deco

History: The Alfred Nakache municipal swimming pool was built by architect Jean Montariol in 1931 with the assistance of engineer Charles Baruteaud. It forms part of a wider development undertaken by the city of Toulouse, which built affordable housing estate, a library, a trade union hall and, on the Ramier island, a large-scale sports complex. At the entrance to the swimming pool stands the Minaret, designed by architect Robert Armandary and built in 1931. The summer swimming pool was opened in the same year, whilst the winter swimming pool building was completed in 1934.

Features: the swimming pool is named after Alfred Nakache, a former Olympic swimmer and water polo player born in 1915 in Constantine, who, as a Jew, was deported with his wife and daughter to Auschwitz, from where he returned alone. On the façade is a bas-relief fresco in flamed sandstone by Riollet, along with decorative motifs. These sculptures are by Parayre and Manau and depict an allegory of sport. The summer pool, with its stands capable of accommodating 2,000 spectators, is the largest outdoor pool in France (150 x 48 m). However, this pool is not rated as a swimming pool due to its shallow depth. The winter swimming pool, built in 1934, is an indoor facility equipped with two pools, one measuring 25 m and the other 16 m.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1993.

Take a stroll on the Moon, step aboard the Mir space station, admire the Ariane 5 rocket, dream with your head in the stars… You can do all this at Cité de l’Espace, just a stone’s throw from the centre of Toulouse. The theme park offers 2,500 m² of interactive exhibitions where you can become an expert on Earth and the Universe, learn everything there is to know about spaceflight and even learn how to forecast the weather.

Its 5-hectare gardens, home to life-size replicas of spacecraft and a large telescope, its IMAX® cinema with a giant screen, its interactive planetarium and its many activities for young and old alike make the journey into space even more fun.

Halle de La Machine opened its doors on 9 November 2018 in the Montaudran district, on the Piste de Géants, the former historic Aéropostale runway.

Visitors can now explore the stable housing the spectacular machines designed and built by François Delarozière and the teams at Compagnie La Machine, through a permanent, interactive exhibition. Conceived as an invitation to travel, Halle de La Machine brings this extraordinary collection of machines to life before the public’s eyes, recounting their tales and legends. In particular, it is home to a new, unique and monumental creature, the Minotaur, which made its first appearance in Toulouse from 1 to 4 November 2018, as part of the show Le Gardien du Temple.

Sights The Capitole

Built: 1190, 18th and 20th centuries.

History and features: in Toulouse, there is no town hall, but a majestic Capitole. An iconic building, it houses the city council, a theatre and state rooms where you might bump into the city’s celebrities. The seat of municipal power since its construction – commissioned by the Capitouls in the 12th century – and transformed and embellished over the centuries, the Capitole displays its majestic neoclassical façade on the unmissable square of the same name.

Its walls recount the great moments in Toulouse’s history: from the Cathar period to the creation of the Floral Games, from the Counts of Toulouse to the siege of the city.

Upstairs, visitors pass through magnificent reception rooms, adorned with Paul Gervais’s allegories of Love and Henri Martin’s ten giant canvases, notably the Salle des Illustres (Illustrious Hall), whose paintings trace the history of Toulouse and whose busts bring to life the figures who have left their mark on the city.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1840, 1911 and 1995.

Construction: 11th century.

Style: Romanesque.

History and features: this 11th-century brick-and-stone basilica is nothing less than one of the greatest Romanesque buildings in the Western world. A former stop on the Way of St James, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. Beneath its octagonal bell tower lies a vast vaulted nave 21-metres high, as well as a crypt housing numerous relics. Among them are those of Saint Sernin, a martyred bishop of the 3rd century after whom the basilica is named. Visitors can also admire the enamelled reliquary of the True Cross, shaped like a sarcophagus. In the richly decorated transepts, one can discover moving medieval frescoes. The basilica and its immediate surroundings are the subject of a major restoration project known as “Grand Saint-Sernin”.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1840. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 as part of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela.

Construction: 13th and 14th centuries.

Style: Gothic.

History: the convent was built in four phases on land acquired in 1229 on the northern section of the old Roman rampart, using funds donated by a wealthy member of the Capitoul, Pons de Capdenier. The first phase of construction began in 1230 and involved building a church with a rectangular plan, in keeping with the ideal of poverty that characterised the Mendicant Orders. The second phase of expansion lasted from 1245 to 1252 and involved extending the church eastwards, where a new chancel was built, complete with burial chapels. The third phase (from 1275 to 1315) was particularly significant, providing the church with an apse whose Gothic ribbed vaults, rising to a height of 28 metres, are supported by three tall columns aligned along the east-west axis of the existing piers. Rising from the top of the eastern column, 22 ribs form a gigantic mineral palm with a geometric branching pattern. The bell tower was completed in 1298 and houses the University bell; its 45-metre-high tower then supported an octagonal spire which was destroyed during the Revolution. The last phase of construction took place in the 14th century and served to eliminate the contrast between the palm-shaped vault of the apse and the timber-framed nave.

Features: the most striking feature that will surprise visitors is the unique palm-shaped vault. The church, with its double nave featuring painted decoration and superb stained-glass windows, has also housed the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas since 1369. As for the convent’s cloister, an oasis of tranquillity in the city, it regularly hosts concerts and exhibitions. A jewel of southern Gothic art, this complex was founded in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Dominican Order.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1840.

Several canals run through the city: Canal du Midi, Canal de Brienne and Canal Latéral à la Garonne. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Canal du Midi links Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea. Built during the reign of Louis XIV by Pierre-Paul Riquet and extended in the 19th century by the Garonne Side Canal to allow navigation to the Atlantic, this waterway can be explored on foot or by bike, or even by boat. In summer, visitors can enjoy the cool shade of its plane-tree-lined avenues and its calm, green waters.

Built: 1825.

Style: Neoclassical.

History: in 1823, the city of Toulouse decided to consolidate its various abattoirs onto a single site. In 1825, architect Urbain Vitry was commissioned to design the building. He created a basilica-style structure, characterised by symmetrical layout and a neoclassical architectural style.

Features: in these former abattoirs, now converted into a museum of modern and contemporary art, there have been no animals for a long time… This unusual venue dedicates its 3,000 m² to the 4,000 works in its permanent collection and to the major exhibitions it regularly hosts, for which it is renowned (Franz Gertsch, Dado, Daniel Spoerri, Roland Topor…). The very spacious galleries allow for a pleasant visitor experience, even when the museum is busy. The collection features the greatest names in modern and contemporary art: Fontana, Riopelle, Chaissac, Hartung… Outside, 16 monumental works form an original and colourful trail that begins in front of the museum entrance with Fernand Léger’s Women with a parrot.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1990.

Built: 16th century.

Style: Renaissance

History and features: this magnificent townhouse was commissioned by a wealthy merchant, Pierre d’Assézat, who made his fortune in the pastel trade in the 16th century and served as a capitoul in 1552 and 1562. He entrusted the construction to one of Toulouse’s most famous architects, Nicolas Bachelier, and work began in 1555. The courtyard is built of brick, but the decoration is in stone, creating a striking aesthetic effect. Two sides of the courtyard feature a three-storey façade superimposing the three classical orders (Ionic, Doric and -Corinthian). The imposing stair tower at the corner rises high enough to be visible from a distance. Together with the loggia, it incorporates all the elements characteristic of a Renaissance-era townhouse. It is one of the earliest examples of French classicism. The main part of the townhouse was completed in 1562. Having converted to Calvinism, Assézat was expelled from the town and dispossessed of his townhouse that same year. After being reinstated and then condemned once more in 1572, he renounced his Protestant faith and died in 1581 in his townhouse, which remained in his family until 1761. It then became the property of Nicolas-Joseph Marcassus de Puymaurin, president of the Royal Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Toulouse. Théodore Ozenne, who purchased the building in 1894, bequeathed it to the city upon his death so that it might house learned societies. From 1980 onwards, the city began restoring the historic buildings and constructing a modern extension.

Current use: in 1994, Georges Bemberg, a wealthy Argentine art collector, loaned his remarkable collection (1,100 works comprising paintings, sculptures and artefacts) to the local council for 99 years so that it could be made accessible to the public. Among the items on display, paintings and drawings take centre stage, including, for example, a unique collection of over thirty canvases by Pierre Bonnard and works by great painters from various European schools of painting, spanning the 15th to the 20th centuries (Canaletto, Tiepolo, François Boucher, Cranach the Elder, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Anthony van Dyck, Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani...).

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1914.

Construction: 1931 and 1934

Style: Art Deco

History: The Alfred Nakache municipal swimming pool was built by architect Jean Montariol in 1931 with the assistance of engineer Charles Baruteaud. It forms part of a wider development undertaken by the city of Toulouse, which built affordable housing estate, a library, a trade union hall and, on the Ramier island, a large-scale sports complex. At the entrance to the swimming pool stands the Minaret, designed by architect Robert Armandary and built in 1931. The summer swimming pool was opened in the same year, whilst the winter swimming pool building was completed in 1934.

Features: the swimming pool is named after Alfred Nakache, a former Olympic swimmer and water polo player born in 1915 in Constantine, who, as a Jew, was deported with his wife and daughter to Auschwitz, from where he returned alone. On the façade is a bas-relief fresco in flamed sandstone by Riollet, along with decorative motifs. These sculptures are by Parayre and Manau and depict an allegory of sport. The summer pool, with its stands capable of accommodating 2,000 spectators, is the largest outdoor pool in France (150 x 48 m). However, this pool is not rated as a swimming pool due to its shallow depth. The winter swimming pool, built in 1934, is an indoor facility equipped with two pools, one measuring 25 m and the other 16 m.

Listing: listed as a Historic Monument in 1993.

Take a stroll on the Moon, step aboard the Mir space station, admire the Ariane 5 rocket, dream with your head in the stars… You can do all this at Cité de l’Espace, just a stone’s throw from the centre of Toulouse. The theme park offers 2,500 m² of interactive exhibitions where you can become an expert on Earth and the Universe, learn everything there is to know about spaceflight and even learn how to forecast the weather.

Its 5-hectare gardens, home to life-size replicas of spacecraft and a large telescope, its IMAX® cinema with a giant screen, its interactive planetarium and its many activities for young and old alike make the journey into space even more fun.

Halle de La Machine opened its doors on 9 November 2018 in the Montaudran district, on the Piste de Géants, the former historic Aéropostale runway.

Visitors can now explore the stable housing the spectacular machines designed and built by François Delarozière and the teams at Compagnie La Machine, through a permanent, interactive exhibition. Conceived as an invitation to travel, Halle de La Machine brings this extraordinary collection of machines to life before the public’s eyes, recounting their tales and legends. In particular, it is home to a new, unique and monumental creature, the Minotaur, which made its first appearance in Toulouse from 1 to 4 November 2018, as part of the show Le Gardien du Temple.