Right at the junction of rue de Metz and rue d'Alsace-Lorraine stands the Musée des Augustins (Mon & Thurs–Sun 10am–6pm, Wed 10am–9pm; www.augustins.org; €2.20). Outwardly unattractive, the nineteenth-century building incorporates two surviving cloisters of an Augustinian priory (one now restored as a monastery garden) and contains outstanding collections of Romanesque and medieval sculpture, much of it saved from the now-vanished churches of Toulouse's golden age. Many of the pieces form a fascinating, highly naturalistic display of contemporary manners and fashions: merchants with forked beards touching one another's arms in a gesture of familiarity, and the Virgin represented as a pretty, bored young mother looking away from the Child who strains to escape her hold.To the south of the museum, just past the Chambre de Commerce, the pretty rue Croix-Baragnon, full of smart shops and galleries, opens at its eastern end onto the equally attractive place St-étienne, which boasts the city's oldest fountain, the Griffoul (1546). Behind it stands the lopsided cathedral of St-étienne, whose construction was spread over so many centuries that it makes no architectural sense at all. But there's ample compensation in the quiet and elegant streets of the quarter immediately to the south, and in the Musée Paul-Dupuy, a few minutes' walk away along rue Tolosane and rue Mage at 13 rue de la Pléau (June–Sept Wed–Sun 10am–6pm; Oct–May Wed–Sun 10am–5pm; €2.20), which has a beautifully displayed and surprisingly interesting collection of clocks, watches, clothes, pottery and furniture from the Middle Ages to the present day, as well as a good display of religious art. If you follow the rue de Metz westward from the Musée des Augustins, you come to the Pont-Neuf – begun in 1544, despite its name – where you can cross over to the St-Cyprien quarter on the left bank of the Garonne. At the end of the bridge on the left, an old water tower, erected in 1822 to supply clean water to the city's drinking fountains, now houses the Galerie Municipale du Château d'Eau (Mon & Wed–Sun 2–7pm; www.galeriechateaudeau.com; e2.30), an influential photography exhibition space and information centre, with frequent changes of exhibition. Next door in the old hospital buildings, there's a small medical museum (Mon–Fri 5–7pm, Sat & Sun 1–7pm; free), housing a selection of surgical instruments and pharmaceutical equipment. But the star of the right bank is undoubtedly Toulouse's new contemporary art gallery, Les Abattoirs, at 76 allées Charles-de-Fitte (Tues–Sun noon–8pm; www.lesabattoirs.org; €6). This splendid venue opened in 2000 and is not only one of France's best contemporary art museums, but an inspiring example of urban regeneration, constructed in a vast brick abattoir complex dating from 1828. The space itself is massive, with huge chambers perfectly suited to display even the largest canvases. The collection comprises over 2000 works (painting, sculpture, mixed- and multimedia) by artists from 44 countries, but the most striking piece is undoubtedly Picasso's massive 14m by 20m theatre backdrop, La dépouille du Minotaure en costume d'Arlequin, painted in 1936 for Romain Rolland's Le 14 Juillet, which towers over the lower gallery.
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