Explore Toulouse

The fine arts museum of Toulouse, opened in 1795 in a 14th-century Augustinian convent. It holds Romanesque and Gothic sculpture from the city's churches and paintings up to the early 20th century, shown around the cloister and in galleries added in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc and his pupil Darcy. Parts remain under restoration.

A Romanesque basilica of brick and stone built from about 1080 over the tomb of Saint Saturnin, the first bishop of Toulouse, and a stop on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela. An octagonal bell tower rises above the crossing, and the crypt and ambulatory hold the relics of saints in a series of reliquaries.

The seat of the Archbishop of Toulouse, built over several centuries and known for its unusual plan: a 13th-century nave in southern Gothic brick meets a wider, northern-style choir begun around 1272 on a different axis. The west front pairs a rose window with a massive bell tower, and Pierre-Paul Riquet, builder of the Canal du Midi, is buried inside.

An aviation museum in Blagnac, beside the Airbus assembly halls at Toulouse airport, opened in 2015. Its curved exhibition hall and outdoor tarmacs display civil and military aircraft, among them two Concordes, an A380, an A400M, a Caravelle and a Super Guppy, and several cabins can be walked through.