La Halle de la Machine
La Halle de la Machine features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Toulouse. Give it roughly ~60 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type museum
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Toulouse Toulouse guide
About La Halle de la Machine
On the old Montaudran airfield, this hall stages giant mechanical creatures built by the company La Machine. Its centrepiece is Astérion, a walking Minotaur about 14 metres tall, unveiled in 2018.
La Halle de la Machine is a hall of giant articulated performance machines, run by the street-theatre company La Machine. It opened in 2018 on the former runway of Toulouse-Montaudran airport, in a hall of about 4,000 square metres. Its centrepiece is Astérion, a Minotaur standing roughly 14 metres tall, who debuted in the November 2018 street show Le Gardien du Temple. Visitors can ride on the Minotaur's back, where a two-level temple-like structure travels along the old runway.
The machines are the work of La Machine, the company behind the mechanical creatures of Nantes, led by artistic director François Delarozière. The site sits within the Toulouse Aerospace redevelopment, beside the L'Envol des Pionniers museum. That runway, the Piste des Géants, belongs to the Aéropostale story: pioneers such as Jean Mermoz, Henri Guillaumet and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flew the airmail from Montaudran. In its first full year, 2019, the hall drew around 300,000 visitors.
Did you know? The star machine is Astérion, a walking Minotaur about 14 metres tall, unveiled in the 2018 street show Le Gardien du Temple. Astérion is simply the mythological name given to the Minotaur.
How long is a visit to La Halle de la Machine?
Set aside roughly ~60 min for La Halle de la Machine. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is La Halle de la Machine worth your time?
La Halle de la Machine is among the 13 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Toulouse, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Toulouse
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Hear the story of La Halle de la Machine
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