The city has many assets, not just Airbus, Cité de l'Espace, and Aérospatiale
"La Ville Rose" is nickname for the fourth-largest city in France because of its houses of pink brick. Toulouse is a very friendly city with a Mediterranean atmosphere and casual big-city bustle. Apart from the intense traffic in places, the old city center, with their palaces of the early bourgeoisie and the central Place du Capitole, is a paradise for walkers. In the 12th century, the citizens secured wide-ranging autonomy from the counts and ruled their city like an Italian city-state, using the selected capitouls, the councilmen. The first Parliament outside of Paris was elected here in 1444. The university, founded in 1229, is the second-largest in France, which makes Toulouse a very young city. Above all, Toulouse has made a name for itself as one of the major technology centers in France. The "European capital of aeronautics and astronautics" is the seat of the company Aérospatiale, whose name is associated with the Airbus and the Euro-rocket "Ariane" but also with weapons like the Exocet missile. The "Caravelle" and "Concorde" were also launched in Toulouse. Near the city, research and production facilities in the promising fields of microelectronics, robotics and biotechnology have been established.
