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FRANCE

TOULOUSE MUSEUMS

The Musée des Augustins de Toulouse is a fine arts museum in Toulouse, France which conserves a collection of sculpture and paintings from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century. The paintings are from throughout France, the sculptures representing Occitan culture of the region with a particularly rich assemblage of Romanesque sculpture. The collections total over 4,000 works and their core derives from confiscation of Church property at the time of the French Revolution as well as seizures of the private collections of emigrés, in Toulouse notably the paintings of the cardinal de Bernis and Louis-Auguste le Tonnelier, baron de Breteuil. The museum's church even houses an organ built in 1981 by Jürgen Ahrend.

The French schools of the 15th to 18th centuries are represented by Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Philippe de Champaigne, Louise Moillon, Valentin de Boulogne, Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes and Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as painters from Toulouse and its region, such as Antoine and Jean-Pierre Rivalz, Nicolas Tournier, François de Troy and Joseph Roques. French 19th and 20th century painting are also represented by various artists.

For more information and enquiries please contact Musée des Augustins, Toulouse 21, rue de Metz, 31000 - Toulouse, France, Tel: +33 (0) 5 61 22 21 82, E-mail: augustins@mairie-toulouse.fr

Musée des Augustins in Toulouse
Copyright © Jean Tosti

The Cité de l'espace (City of Space) is a theme park oriented towards space and the conquest of space. It is located on the eastern outskirts of Toulouse in France. More than 4 million visitors have already visited it after 13 years of exploitation. The park makes it possible to visit full scale models of the rocket Ariane 5 (55 metres in height), Mir space station, and Soyuz modules. A 140 seat and a 280 seat planetarium presents spectacles throughout the day. Cité de l'Espace is also equipped with numerous exhibits, often interactive. The building of "Australia - le 6ème continent", (the 6th continent), opened in 2005, includes a new 280 seat planetarium, equipped with a hemispherical screen of 600 m ², an IMAX cinema presenting Space Station 3D, a 3D film on board the International Space Station, the Stellarium, and conference rooms.

For more information and enquiries please contact Cité de l'espace, Avenue Jean Gonord - B.P.25855, 31506 Toulouse Cedex 5, Tel: +1 820 37 72 23, E-mail: standard@cite-espace.com

Mir Space Station: full size model at Cité de l'espace, Toulouse
Photograph taken by Emeraude

The Hôtel d'Assézat in Toulouse, France, is a Renaissance hôtel particulier (palace) of the 16th century which houses the Bemberg Foundation, a major art gallery of the city. The art gallery presents to the public one of the major private collection of art in Europe : the personal collection of the wealthy Argentinian Georges Bemberg. His foundation has been created in collaboration with the City of Tolouse. The large collection of Bemberg features paintings, drawings, sculptures, ancient books and furniture. Paintings and drawings are the highlights of the collection, especially 19th and early 20th century French painting (with impressionism, Nabis, post-impressionism and fauvism) and Venetian painting of the 16th and 18th centuries.

For more information and enquiries please contact Fondation Bemberg, Hôtel d'Assézat - Place d'Assézat, 31000 - Toulouse Tel: +33 (0)5 61 12 06 89 E-mail: accueil@ondation-bemberg.fr

Entrance of the Hôtel d'Assézat seen from the courtyard
Photograph taken by Ceridwen