Sights in Marseille
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Le Panier
North of the Vieux Port, Marseille’s old city, Le Panier quarter (2e), translates to ‘the basket’, and was the site of the Greek agora (marketplace). Today its winding, narrow streets are a jumble of artisans shops and washing lines strung outside candy-coloured houses. Expect to get lost (even locals get turned around); that’s part of the fun. On warm evenings, cafés at place de Lenche provide great people-watching.
Marseille architect and sculptor Pierre Puget (1620–94) was born in the house opposite 10 rue du Petit Puits, and designed the arcaded courtyard of the Centre de la Vieille Charité. Initially built as a charity shelter for the town’s poor, the stunni…
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Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation
Visionary architect Le Corbusier redefined urban living in 1952 with the completion of this vertical, 337-apartment ‘garden city’, also known as Cité Radieuse (Radiant City). Along its darkened hallways, primary-coloured downlights create eerie tunnels leading to a mini-supermarket, architectural bookshop and panoramic rooftop ‘desert garden’. However forward-thinking the architecture, it has esoteric appeal: many just see a concrete apartment block.
For Le Courbusier lovers, stay at Hôtel Le Corbusier, two floors in the middle of the tower. ‘Cabins’ are tiny cells; studios look sharp, particularly those with sea views and Le Corbusier chairs, but for design reas…
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Vieil Aix
Art, culture and architecture abound in Aix and is a stroller’s paradise, especially the mostly pedestrian old city, Vieil Aix.
The graceful cours Mirabeau is the heart of Aix. Cafés spill onto the sidewalks on the sunny northern side. The southern side shelters a string of elegant Renaissance hôtels particuliers (private mansions). The mossy fontaine d’Eau Thermale, at the intersection of cours Mirabeau and rue du 4 Septembre, spouts 34°C water, a pleasant hint of what awaits at the Thermes Sextius.
South of cours Mirabeau, Quartier Mazarin was laid out in the 17th century, and is home to some of Aix’ finest buildings. Further south still is the peaceful parc Jour…
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Basilique Notre Dame de la Garde
The opulent, domed 19th-century Romano-Byzantine basilica occupies Marseille’s highest point, lording it over the city skyline. Built from 1853 to 1864, it’s ornamented with coloured marble, murals depicting the safe passage of sailing vessels and intricate gold-laid mosaics superbly restored in 2006. Crowning the bell tower, a 9.7m-tall gilded statue of the Virgin Mary stands atop a 12m-high pedestal. Bullet marks and shrapnel scars on the northern facade evidence the fierce fighting of Marseille’s Battle of Liberation (15–25 August 1944).
Bus 60 links the Vieux Port with the basilica. Or, the ‘little train’ departs from the port and remains for 20 minutes before…
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Unité d'Habitation
Visionary architect Le Corbusier redefined urban living in 1952 with the completion of his vertical, 337-apartment ‘garden city', Unité d'Habitation , also known as Cité Radieuse (Radiant City). Along its darkened hallways, primary-coloured downlights create eerie tunnels leading to a minisupermarket, architectural bookshop and panoramic rooftop ‘desert garden'.
Even if you're not staying at the onsite Hôtel Le Corbusier, you can arrange to visit this tour de force, including its private apartments, or dine at its restaurant, with sweeping views of the Mediterranean - and of the proliferation of high-rises that Le Corbusier inspired. Catch bus 83 or 21 to the Le Cor…
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Îles du Frioul
A few hundred metres west of the Château d’If are the Ratonneauand Pomègues. The tiny islands (each about 2.5km long) were linked by a dyke in the 1820s. From the 17th to 19th centuries they were used to quarantine those suspected of carrying plague or cholera: the city was ravaged by plague in 1720, when a merchant vessel carrying the disease broke quarantine to avoid losing its shipment. The resultant epidemics killed around 50,000 of the city’s 90,000 inhabitants. The island of Ratonneau has ruins of the old yellow-fever quarantine hospital. Seabirds and rare plants thrive on the islands, which also have uncrowded beaches.
Boats to Château d’If also serve the Île…
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Centre de la Vieille Charité
Marseille architect and sculptor Pierre Puget (1620–94) was born in the house opposite 10 rue du Petit Puits, and designed the arcaded courtyard of the Centre de la Vieille Charité, initially built as a charity shelter for the town’s poor, the stunning arched pink-stone courtyard now houses Marseille’s beautiful Musée d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne (Museum of Mediterranean Archeology) and Musée d’Arts Africains, Océaniens & Amérindiens (Museum of African, Oceanic & American Indian Art). The latter contains a striking collection of masks from the Americas, Africa and the Pacific.
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Centre de la Vieille Charité
Marseille architect and sculptor Pierre Puget (1620–94) was born in the house opposite 10 rue du Petit Puits, and designed the arcaded courtyard of the Centre de la Vieille Charité. Initially built as a charity shelter for the town’s poor, the stunning arched pink-stone courtyard now houses Marseille’s beautiful Musée d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne (Museum of Mediterranean Archeology) and Musée d’Arts Africains, Océaniens & Amérindiens (Museum of African, Oceanic & American Indian Art). The latter contains a striking collection of masks from the Americas, Africa and the Pacific.
reviewed
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Musée d'Arts Africains, Océaniens & Amérindiens
Initially built as a charity shelter for the town's poor, the stunning arched pink-stone courtyard of the Centre de la Vieille Charité now houses Marseille's beautiful Musée d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne and Musée d'Arts Africains, Océaniens & Amérindiens . The latter houses a diverse and often striking collection, including masks from the Americas, Africa and the Pacific.
reviewed
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Château d’If
Immortalised in Alexandre Dumas’ classic 1840s novel Le Comte de Monte Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo), the 16th-century fortress-turned-prison Château d’If sits on a 3-hectare island 3.5km west of the Vieux Port. Political prisoners were incarcerated here, along with hundreds of Protestants (many of whom perished in the dungeons), the Revolutionary hero Mirabeau (who didn’t fare so badly, once he’d seduced the cook) and the Communards of 1871.
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Palais de Longchamp
The colonnaded Palais de Longchamp and its spectacular fountains were constructed in the 1860s, in part to disguise a water tower at the terminus of an aqueduct from the River Durance. The northern wing houses Marseille’s oldest museum, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, undergoing renovations at research time and slated to reopen in 2012. The shaded park is one of the city centre’s few green spaces, popular with local families.
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Musée du Santon
One of Provence’s most enduring, and endearing, Christmas traditions are its santons, plaster-moulded, kiln-fired nativity figures, first created by Marseillais artisan Jean-Louis Lagnel (1764–1822). The tiny museum displays a private collection of 18th- and 19th-century santons. At adjoining ateliers, watch the figures being crafted, or buy them at the boutique.
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Musée Cantini
Recessed behind grand gates inside a 17th-century hôtel particulier (private mansion), the Musée Cantini has collections including 17th- and 18th-century Provençal ceramics and landscapes of the surrounding region including André Derain's Pinède, Cassis (1907) and Raoul Dufy's Paysage de l'Estaque (1908).
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Musée d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne
Initially built as a charity shelter for the town's poor, the stunning arched pink-stone courtyard of the Centre de la Vieille Charité now houses Marseille's beautiful Musée d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne and Musée d'Arts Africains, Océaniens & Amérindiens.
reviewed
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Cathédrale de la Major
Standing guard between the old and the ‘new’ port is the striking Byzantine-style Cathédrale de la Major. Its ‘stripy’ facade is made of local Cassis stone and green Florentine marble. Amazingly this unique monument stood for years in a wasteland, but now it’s the center of the dynamic dockland redevelopment around La Joliette.
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Musée d’Histoire de Marseille
A fascinating insight into Marseille’s cultural heritage, this museum has extraordinary exhibits, such as the remains of a 3rd-century AD merchant vessel, discovered in the Vieux Port in 1974. To preserve the soaked and decaying wood, it was freeze-dried where it now sits behind glass. Most explanatory notes are in French only.
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Musée de la Marine et de l'Économie
The colonnaded Chamber of Commerce (also known as the Palais de la Bourse), built between 1854 and 1860, houses a Musée de la Marine et de l'Économie. The museum highlights Marseille's economic ties to the sea through a series of paintings, engravings, models and other exhibits.
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Vallon des Auffes
Nestled around this picture-postcard fishing village are traditional cabanons (seaside cabins), built by fishermen to store tackle and cook traditional Sunday bouillabaisse. A narrow staircase (behind the bus stop) links corniche Président John F Kennedy with the harbour.
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Musée de la Mode
Contemplate contemporary fashion trends at the Musée de la Mode . This stylish space has over 2000 garments and accessories in its permanent collection. Unfortunately, it regularly closes for two or three months at a time to switch exhibitions.
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Vieux Port
Ships have docked for more than 26 centuries at Marseille’s colourful Vieux Port. Although the main commercial docks were transferred to the Joliette area on the coast north of here in the 1840s, it still overflows with fishing craft, yachts and local ferries.
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Nouvelle Cathédrale de la Major
Cupolas, towers and turrets top the Romano-Byzantine Nouvelle Cathédrale de la Major. Built between 1852 and 1893, the enormous 140m-long, 60m-high structure dwarfs the remains of the neighbouring 11th-century cathedral, Vieille Major.
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Villa Valmer
The gardens of Villa Valmer are a potent cocktail of pistachio, palm and pine trees shading one of the few surviving bourgeois villas built along the coast during the Second Empire. The villa is otherwise closed to visitors.
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Corniche Président John F Kennedy
Mesmerising views of the Med - and of a whole other face of Marseille - unveil along corniche Président John F Kennedy. A narrow staircase links corniche Président John F Kennedy with the harbour.
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Fort St-Jean
Guarding the Marseille harbour, across the water from Bas Fort St-Nicolas, is Fort St-Jean, founded in the 13th century by the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem.
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Monument aux Repatriés d'Afrique du Nord
Sculpted in bronze by César in 1971, the enormous propeller of the Monument aux Repatriés d'Afrique du Nord honours those who returned from North Africa.
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