|
With around 400 000 inhabitants,
Toulouse,
the 4th city in France, is the main city of the
Midi-Pyrénées region which is situated in the
south-west of France.
The historical past of Toulouse is rich, it has been
founded at the roman period, 24 centuries ago.
This past has left beautiful marks on the city which counts a great
number of monuments: the most famous one and the symbol of Toulouse
is the Capitol (in which the city hall and the tourism office are
located) and its square. But there is also a Romanesque basilica
"St Sernin", a Jacobins' monastery which is a Gothic jewel whose
vaults are famous, bridges: the oldest is the "Pont Neuf" (new bridge),
mansions, ...
The modern Toulouse resolutely looks towards the future
with a great interest in aeronautical and aerospace industries.
The most important aeronautical site in Europe is located here with
150 acres being devoted to the construction of the Airbus plane.
From air to space, there's only a short step and Toulouse also
hosts a center of the CNES (French Space Agency) which is in charge
of preparing and developing space projects. The headquarters of
"Météo-France" (national weather office) are also
in Toulouse. This latter also offers a real teaching aid with the
"Cité de l'Espace" (City of Space), a space musem
to discover, for example, the Universe and to admire the Mir
station or a full-sized Ariane 5 rocket.
Toulouse is also a city of research with three universities,
fourteen prestigious university-level colleges and many
research centers.
Toulouse also offers cultural places like museums (archeological,
asian, of modern art (with a theater curtain painted by Picasso),
of the Resistance movement, of medicine, ..), art and photographic
galleries, ...
|
