Why Visit
It was founded by Greek colonies and during ancient times was known as the “Athens of the West”. Now it is a cosmopolitan city, with many landmarks, museums and other historical sites that are worth visiting. It has a bustling nightlife and an exquisite cuisine.
History
Marseille is one of the oldest inhabited places in Europe. Paleolithic cave paintings in the Cosquer Cave date back to 27.000 BC while recent excavations have uncovered Neolithic habitations that date back to 6000 BC.
The city of Marseille was founded in 600 BC by Greek colonists from Phocaea. It was originally a trading port and bore the name Massalia. According to legend, Protis was looking for a place to establish a trading port. He discovered the Mediterranean cove of Lacydon, which was fed by freshwater and protected by two rocky promontories. He was then invited inland by the chief of a Celto-Ligurian tribe. He participated in a banquet, during which the chief’s daughter chose him to be her husband. They married and moved together to the hill north of Lacydon. From there grew Massalia.
It was one of the first Greek trading ports in the Western Mediterranean and it grew thanks to its geographical location and the trade it established with inland Gaul. It faced opposition from Etruscans and Carthaginians and several conflicts were fought between them. It eventually allied itself with the Roman Republic for protection. This new alliance brought new prosperity to the city because not only did it offer military protection from its enemies, it also opened the roman market to Massilian traders. It served as a link between the roman markets and inland Gaul. The city maintained its independence until the Civil Wars of Julius Caesar. It chose to support the losing side of Pompey Magnus and was besieged and annexed to the Roman Republic.
During the Roman Era, it was called Massilia and many buildings of the original Greek settlement were replaced by Roman additions. Women were forbidden to drink wine and a person was allowed assistance in committing suicide. Christianity first appeared in Marseille during Roman times and according to tradition Mary Magdalen with her brother Lazarus evangelized Marseille.
With the Fall of the Roman Empire the town came under the control of the Visigoths. Eventually by the middle of the 6th-century, it was taken by the Frankish kings. It remained a major French trading port until the medieval period. In the 10th century it was revived by the Counts of Provence and it regained much of its wealth and trading power. In 1262 there was a revolt against the rule of the Angevins, a powerful family that controlled England and much of France. The revolt was brutally suppressed by Charles I.
The terrible bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, struck the city in 1348 and lingered until 1361. Due to its status as a major port, Marseille was one of the first places in Europe to encounter the epidemic. 15.000 people of the total 25.000 that the city had died as a result of the plague. In 1423 the Araginese sacked the city.
Marseille started to recover however and in 1437, Rene of Anjou, who was King of Sicily, Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence arrived here and increased the city’s fortifications dramatically. It became one of the most fortified settlements in France, second only to Paris.
Marseille was incorporated into France in 1481 along with the rest of Provence. It became an important naval base for the Franco-Ottoman Alliance in 1536 and a fleet was stationed there to threaten the Holy Roman Empire, especially the port of Genoa. In the 16th century it suffered another outbreak of the plague and a century later a local uprising broke out against the governor. King Louis XIV quashed it personally with his army. Two more forts were constructed and a fleet and arsenal were stationed there.
Over the course of the 18th century, the defenses were further improved and Marseille became France’s leading military port in the Mediterranean. A final outbreak of the plague in 1720 killed 100.000 people in the city and the surrounding countryside. The city was a firm supporter of the French Revolution. Volunteers were sent to Paris in 1792 to help defend the revolutionary government. While on march from Marseille to Paris, they sung the La Marseillaise, which is now the national anthem of France.
The city became a site of industrial growth in the 19th century and the expansion of the French Empire on the coasts of North Africa greatly stimulated the maritime trade and increased the prosperity of the city. Maritime trade also increased with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. This period is reflected by many monuments, such as the Napoleonic obelisk at Mazargues and the royal triumphal arch of the Place Jules Guesde.
During the early 20th century, Marseille hosted two large colonial exhibitions (in 1906 and 1922). In 1934 King Alexander I of Yugoslavia arrived in the city and was assassinated there by Vlado Chernozemski. It was bombed by German and Italian air forces in 1940 during World War II. It was under the control of the collaborationist Vichy government until November 1942, when it was occupied directly by German troops. The Old Port was bombed in 1944 by the Allies in preparation for their invasion of France. The city was liberated during the allied invasion of Southern France. Much of the city was rebuilt in the 1950s and onward it served as an entrance port for many immigrants arriving to France. In 1962 some 150.000 pieds-noirs (French settlers of Algeria) arrived there after Algerian Independence.
Museums - Archeological
The city is rich in museums and archaeological sites, testimony to its long and rich history. In 2013 it became the European Capital of Culture. In June 2013 three museums reopened to the public.
The Museum of Fine Arts (Musée des Beaux Arts) was recently restored and reopened. It is located in the left wing of the Palais Longchamp, a building designed and constructed during the Second French Empire. During the restoration, lighting and heating were improved; air conditioning and an elevator for the disabled were installed. It hosts a collection of European and provençal art from the 16th to 19th centuries.
The Museum of Marseille History (Musée d’Histoire de Marseille) hosts an exhibition of multimedia displays and archaeological artefacts discovered during archaeological digs around the city.
The MuCEM (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations or Musée des civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée) is France’s first genuinely national museum outside Paris and is devoted to the history and culture of European and Mediterranean civilizations. Adjacent to the MuCEM is the Villa Méditerranée. It is a futuristic and spectacular building. It is partially constructed underwater and hosts exhibitions, conferences and serves as a place for cultural and artistic interchange.
The Vieille Charité lies in the Old Town and it houses two museums: the Museums of Arts of Africans, Oceanians and Amerindians, which has a rich collection of ethnographic art and the Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology which holds a collection of ancient artefacts from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Etruscans.
The FRAC PACA (Fonds Régional de l’Art Contemporain Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur) houses contemporary arts from the region of Provence. It also hosts exhibitions. There is also the Panorama Tower (Tour Panorama) which hosts exhibitions of modern art and a live theatre show.
The Maritime Museum (Musée de la Marine et de l’Economie de Marseille) is testimony to the deep connections the city has with maritime trade. It displays an array of model sailing and steam ships as well as nautical maps, engraving and other nautical equipment from the 1930s.
The Cantini Museum (Musée Cantini) is housed in a beautiful 17th century hotel and is easily accessible in the city centre. Is houses a small but important collection of 20th century art.
Of interest is also the Motorcycle Museum (Musée de la Moto) which houses over 150 motorbikes, from early prototypes to modern futuristic racing bikes.
The Museum of Modern Art (Musée d’Art Contemporain) is outside the city centre. It covers a period of modern art from the 1960s to the present day.
The Museum of Natural History (Musée d’Histoire de Marseille) is located in the right wing of the Palais Longchamp. It is devoted to prehistorical times and evolution. It houses skeletons and also recreations of Provence’s flora and fauna as well as an impressive safari room with more than 300 stuffed animals.
The Death Camps Memorial (Mémorial des Camps de la Mort) is a museum dedicated to the city’s modern history. Marseille was a centre of resistance during World War II and this memorial honors its victims and heroes. It is located in a former gun emplacement.
Beaches
The city offers an enormous array of seaside spaces. According to your tastes, whether you prefer a quiet beach to enjoy the water with your family or a place for sea sports, Marseille has it. The Plage des Catalans is closer to the Old Port. It is a sandy beach with a pizzeria, volleyball courts, a snack bar and a lifeguard area. It offers an excellent view of the Château d’If.
The Vallons are no beaches, but instead a series of rocky inlets down the coastal road. One can go swimming in one of these inlets. They include the Vallon des Auffes, the Vallon de Malmousque, the Vallon de la Fausse Monnaie and the Vallon de l’Oriel. Some of them have resaurants in which one can eat enjoying the view.
After the Vallon inlets lie the Plage du Prophete, another sandy beach, equipped with volleyball areas, showers and a snack bar. It has lifeguards and is a good place to visit with children.
Les Goudes is an isolated fishing port that offers an exceptional view both to the sea and inland. There is also a small sandy beach and a marine with many bars.
Religious Monasteries and Churches
Throughout its rich and long history, Marseille has acquired a number of important and beautiful churches and abbeys.
The Notre-Dame de la Garde is arguably the most famous of Marseille’s religious sites. It is a minor basilica with a neo-byzantine architectural style. It was built during the 1853-1864 period by the architect Henri-Jacques Espérandieu who chose to build it on the foundations of an ancient fort, on the highest natural point in Marseille. It is considered as the guardian and protector of the city by the local inhabitants. They refer to it as la bonne mere (the good mother). The limestone used to build the church was imported from Florence. Before the basilica was built, a small chapel was located there along the fort. The person in charge of the chapel, Father Jean-Antoine Bernard requested the Ministry of War in 1850 to authorize and expansion of the existing chapel. Authorization was given in 1852 and the project begun. The project faced numerous financial problems but the basilica was completed in 1886.
The Saint Victor Abbey is one of the oldest religious sites in Marseille. Originally a site of a quarry during the Hellenistic and Roman times, Saint Victor was killed by the Romans there in 302 AD and an monastery was founded in his honor. The first church was built in 440, in was destroyed by Saracen raiders but was rebuilt in the 11th century. One of the abbots of Saint Victor, Guillaume Grimoard, became in 1361 Pope Urban V of Avignon. By the end of the 16th century it had lost its importance and its rich library disappeared. During the French Revolution it was secularized, all precious objects were confiscated to make coins and the building was turned into a barracks, a warehouse and a prison. However, there are still many important artifacts like sarcophagi, altars and stained-glass windows. It had recently undergone a restoration program.
La Major is Marseille’s official Cathedral and the first of its kind to be constructed in France in two centuries. Its full name of Saine Marie Majeure and it was the brainchild of Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who aimed to please the church as well as the locals by its construction. It begun in 1852 as France’s power was rapidly expanding, a result of economic prosperity. It is a mix of Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic styles and was build with proportions comparable to Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It can accommodate up to 3.000 people. Work was finally completed in 1896 under the guidance of Hnery-Antoine Révoil. It has elaborate mosaic floors and artifacts by local artists.
Saint Laurent is the church of sailors and fishermen. It is in a Romanesque style and an octagonal bell tower. In was built in the 13th century with pinkish stones from La Couronne. It was miraculously survived the dynamiting of the Old Town by the Nazis in 1943.
Notre Dame des Accoules is one of the oldest buildings in Marseille. It dates back to the 14th century. Much of the original church was destroyed in 1794 during the French Revolution but the studded tower still stands.
Saint Vincent de Paul is an imposing church with twin neo-Gothic spires. It has impressive bronze doors with intricate allegorical bas reliefs of animals.
Saint Ferréon les Augustins is located on the Old Port. It began in the 15th century but has since undergone many changes, expansions and part-demolitions.
