La Couronne is a village in the south of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on the

Côte Bleue The Côte Bleue ( Provençal Occitan: ''Còsta Blava'') is part of Provence's southwestern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, reaching from Marseilles to the Étang de Berre The Étang de Berre (in Provençal Occitan: ''estanh de Bèrra / ma ...

on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

coast, notable for its ancient quarries and lighthouses.

Description

La Couronne, formerly known as ''Queyroun'', is a village in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A di ...

in the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and large ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' in the south of

. It is situated on the

on the

coast. Primarily a bathing resort, on the small coastal railway line connecting Martigues and

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

, it is also known for the ancient

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

and

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

s on nearby ''Cap Couronne''. Cap Couronne was well known to seafarers in antiquity as the most extreme promontory between the Bay of Marseille and the Bay of

Fos-sur-Mer Fos-sur-Mer (, literally ''Fos on Sea''; Provençal: ''Fòs'') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. Geography Fos-sur-Mer is situated about north west of Marseille, on the Mediterranean coast, and to the west ...

. The first staffed square lighthouse, 11.6 m high, was constructed in 1867 and dismantled in 1963, following the construction of an automated circular lighthouse, 33 m high, in 1959. The stone quarries were already mentioned by the Greek historian

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

; their remains can now be seen on the shoreline, due to rises in the sea level. Archaeological excavations of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

village suggest that quarrying began in the sixth century BC. The

molasse __NOTOC__ The term "molasse" () refers to sandstones, shales and conglomerates that form as terrestrial or shallow marine deposits in front of rising mountain chains. The molasse deposits accumulate in a foreland basin, especially on top of flys ...

stone was used in

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

Massalia Massalia (Greek: Μασσαλία; Latin: Massilia; modern Marseille) was an ancient Greek colony founded ca. 600 BC on the Mediterranean coast of present-day France, east of the river Rhône, by Ionian Greek settlers from Phocaea, in Western An ...

for both the quays and the ramparts.Bromwich (1993), pp. 166-167

Gallery

Image:Martigues — La Couronne — Verdon's Beach.jpg, The beach of Le Verdon Image:Martigues — La Couronne — Overview of Verdon's beach.JPG, Overview of the beach of Le Verdon Image:Martigues — La Couronne — Overview of Verdon’s beach since the village.jpg, Overview of the beach of Le Verdon from the village Image:Martigues_—_La_Couronne_—_Verdon's_beach_west_side.jpg, Beach of Verdon on the west Image:Martigues — La Couronne — La Saulce beach.jpg, Beach of La Saulce Image:Martigues - Plage de Sainte-Croix.JPG, Beach of Sainte-Croix Image:Martigues — La Couronne — Harbour of Tamaris.JPG, Tamaris harbour

Notes

References

* ''Provence'', Guide Vert, Michelin (1998) * James Bromwich, ''The Roman Remains of Southern France: A Guidebook'', Routledge (1993) *

Albert Dauzat Albert Dauzat (; 4 July 1877 – 31 October 1955) was a French linguist specializing in toponymy and onomastics. Dauzat, a student of Jules Gilliéron, was a director of studies at the École des hautes études. Works * ''L'argot des poilus; di ...

, ''La toponymie francaise'' (1939). * Fabienne Gateau and Michel Provost, ''Carte archéologique de la Gaule 13/1. Étang de Berre'', Editions MSH (1996)

External links

*
Photos of the beach at le Verdon

The railway station at La Couronne

Diving on the Côte Bleue
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Couronne, Bouches-du-Rhone Villages in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur