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Things to do in Toulouse
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Musee des Augustins
The Musee des Augustins de Toulouse
is a marvelous fine arts museum that is located in a former
Gothic convent in Toulouse, France. The magnificent collection
of paintings and sculptures have come from the Middle Ages to
the turn of the 20th century, with the paintings more
metropolitan in latitude, and the sculptures pertain to the
Occitan culture of the area with a superb collection of
Romanesque sculpture. The base of the collections come from the
appropriation of church property during the French Revolution,
and the taking of private collections from emigrants, but in
this city, the most notable belonging to the cardinal de Bernis
and Louis-Auguste le Tonnelier, baron de Breteuil. The church
became secularized in 1793, and in the 19th century, the church
and chapter house were increased with display galleries that
were designed by Viollet-le-Duc, and accessed by a wonderful
Gothic Revival large stairway that included a number of
elaborate vaults. The museum is one of fifteen that started in
the municipal centers, with a decree. The minister of interior,
Jean-Antoine Chaptal wanted the collections to exemplify
paintings that represented all the genres, schools and masters.
With numerous shipment coming to the museum until 1811, this
museum was augmented by the artworks of Philippe de Champaigne,
Guerinco, Rubens and Pietro Perugino. Today, the paintings
include the extraordinary works of such notables as Henri de
Toulouse-Lautrec, Neri di Bicci, Maurice Utrillo, Lorenzo
Monaco, Maurice Denis, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Pietro
Perugino, Berthe Morisot, Edouard Vuillard, Bernardo Strozzi,
Camille Corot, Guido Reni, Eugene Delacroix, Guercino, Jacob
Jordaens, Edouard Monet, Carlo Maratta, Gustave Courbet, Rubens,
Anton Van Dyck, Antoine Jean Gros, Aelbert Cuyp, Freancesco
Guardi, Phillippe de Champaigne, Francesco Solimena, Bartolome
Esteban Murillo, Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Lebrun, Sebastien
Bourdon, Pierre Mignard, Claude Joseph Vernet, Hyacinthe Rigaud,
Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Nicolas de Largillierre. The wonderful
sculpture collection is mainly the rescues of the museum
curators, like Alexandre du Mege, who gathered the sculptures
before they could be destroyed with religious buildings in the
19th century.
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Basilique Saint-Sernin
This ferry goes across Lake Champlain taking cars
and passengers to three The spectacular Basilica of St. Sernin
that is located in Toulouse, France, was the former abbey church
of the Abbey of St. Sernin or St. Saturnin, that was constructed
in Romanesque architecture between 1080 and 1120. It was built
on the site of the previous basilica that was built here in the
4th century and holds the first bishop of Toulouse, Saint
Saturnin or Sernin. The abbey of St. Sernin was a very old
foundation, that was raised in status and importance with the
donations of Charlemagne, who gave a large amount of
antiquities, resulting in the stopover of pilgrims traveling to
Santiago de Compostela and eventually became a stop itself. It
is this present structure that was created to take care of these
early pilgrims. The abbey's plans were used in building the
cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, which started in 1082, and
was such a magnificent copy that it was done either by St.
Sernin's architect or one of his best students. In 1218, when
Simon de Montfort was besieging the city, the stone that killed
him was thrown for the roof of the famous abbey. Viollet-le-Duc
renovated the church in 1860, but since they varied from the
original designs, they are today being taken off to bring it
back to its former glory. Although it is called a basilica, the
church is different in some ways from the usual plans for
basilicas in the early Christian architectural designs. Bigger,
and made of brick, it is a cruciform structure, with vaulted
ceilings, and radiating chapels that were made to contain the
special antiquities. Another difference is the ambulatory, which
was used to walk around the church, while mass was being said,
without bothering the attendees, so they could see all the
beautiful relics that were in the chapels and nave. That is why
the basilica has been inferred to be a pilgrimage plan instead
of the usual basilica plan. On the outside, the bell tower, is
the most visible part of the church, since it divided into five
tiers, containing Romanesque arches, was built in the 12th
century, while the top two were done in the 14th century. The
spire that sits atop all these was put on in the 15th century.
The most ancient section of the church is the chevet that was
constructed in the 11th century and contains 9 chapels. The
inside is 115x64x21 meters, or 450x195x65 feet, and is
considered huge for a Romanesque church, with the center nave
being barrel vaulted and the four aisles having rib vaults
supported by buttresses. Under the transept and tower, there
sits a stupendous marble altar that was consecrated by Pope
Urban II in 1096 and designed by Bernard Gilduin. Saint
Honoratus is also buried here, with the crypt housing many
antiquities from other saints. The church's organ is a huge
three-manual Caville-Coll pipe organ that was constructed in
1888, and is believed to be one of the most prominent organs in
the country.
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Fondation Bemberg
The Fondation Bemberg was
the brainchild of Georges Bemberg, a unique individual who
started his love affair with art and the artistic expression at
an early age, and by continued tenacity built a marvelous
collection that might have disappeared had he not started the
foundation. His family was originally from Cologne, France, when
during the 18th century his ancestors were head of the Lutherian
community. They moved to Argentina to help with that country's
development, although the family always had ties with their
mother country. Georges was raised in France, and was instantly
involved in the country's culture, being an apt and enthralled
student, with a universal interest in humanity. During these
formative years it became evident that he was drawn to beautiful
objects, and had his first experience with that lifelong love
affair, when while attending Harvard, he came across a gouache
by Picasso in a New York dealer's gallery and purchased it for
$200. The event enflamed his passions and ever so slowly over
the ensuing years he built a spectacular collection based on his
own tastes and interests; restricted only by his financial
position at the moment. He had an uncle, that died early in his
life, who had been a student of Picasso, which just seemed to
nurture his passion. He first stayed in New York for a while,
during the war, and then went to Paris, where he embraced the
art world, and started meeting art dealers and going to all the
galleries looking for another piece of artwork for his growing
collection. In the 1960s, he soon found he also had a desire for
bronzes, and soon these wonderful objects found their way into
the collection. Not content with just one form of artistry, he
delved into music and literature; becoming an excellent pianist
and eventually writer with numerous published works. He thought
about becoming a composer, but didn't want to contain himself to
one field. He had been influenced by Nadia Boulanger, which is
one of the main reasons for going to Harvard in Cambridge, where
he had met many wonderful American composers at her home, while
it was here that he discarded his plans for becoming a composer
and started writing. He had graduated from Harvard with a degree
in English and French literature, and entered into the circles
of the New England writers, like Edmund Wilson and John Dos
Passos. Presently he spends his time traveling between New York,
Paris and Buenos Aires, always on the search for a fantastic
opportunity to add to his impressive and fantastic collection.
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