Blaise-Jean-Marius Michel, Comte de Pierredon (1819-1907), also known as Michel Pasha or Michel Pacha in French, was a French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and lighthouse builder.

Early life

He was born in

Sanary Sanary-sur-Mer (, literally ''Sanary on Sea''; oc, Sant Nari), popularly known as Sanary, is a Communes of France, commune in the Var (department), Var Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region ...

, near

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, in 1819. He became a merchant navy officer and traveled frequently between

Marseilles 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 ...

and the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

for the company Messageries Imperiales.

Lighthouse builder in the Ottoman Empire

Following a shipwreck accident in the eastern

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 ...

he was involved in, he wrote to the French Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

(reigned 1848-1870), suggesting a network of

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 along the coasts of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. Napoleon, who was seeking to advance France's influence over the Ottoman Empire, put the proposal forward. Shortly before the end of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

(1853-1856) in 1855, the French ambassador at the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The nam ...

, Antoine Thouvenel convinced

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

Abdülmecid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...

(reigned 1839-1861) to construct lighthouses along the

Bosphorus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

. Michel became head of the Ottoman Lighthouse Authority. After the building of a number of lighthouses, he established his own firm "Collas and Michel Co." with another officer, Camille Colas (1819-1898). In 1860, the company negotiated the first concession contract, which was in particular strategic interest for the Ottoman Empire. The company built lighthouses and charged the vessels passing by for the lighthouse service. The fees were collected through offices in the Empire. The high profits, making 73% of the revenues with an average FF 3.6 million in the period from 1862 to 1913, were shared between the company owners and the Ottoman state. Within the first twenty years, almost a hundred lighthouses were built across the empire with lantern lenses imported from France. Michel and Collas became very wealthy through this business. While Collas put his assets in the project of

Jaffa–Jerusalem railway The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway (also J & J) is a railway that connected Jaffa and Jerusalem. The line was built in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (Ottoman Syria) by the French company ''Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et P ...

, Michel invested in a seaside resort at the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

Back in France

Returning to Sanary in 1872, he became Mayor, using part of his fortune to rebuild the harbor and the town church. In 1879, he came back to the Ottoman Empire, charged with rebuilding the harbor of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

to modern design. In return, he obtained the honorary title of

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...

from Sultan

Abdülaziz Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was 187 ...

(reigned 1861-1876). He was further created a Chevalier of the

légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

by the

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

in 1880, and Comte de Pierredon by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

in 1882. As mayor of Sanary, he planned to turn the nearby area of Tamaris into a fashionable modern resort. Michel died, however, without seeing his project completed. Tamaris was part built with a casino, hotels, a marina, grand houses and around 20 unique villas built. Tamaris was built to be a holiday resort for well to do Parisians. It remains a little-known but attractive and peaceful resort on the outskirts of

La Seyne-sur-Mer La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is pa ...

. Michel Pasha also made a donation to help biologist

Raphaël Dubois Raphaël Horace Dubois (20 June 1849, Le Mans – 21 January 1929) was a French pharmacologist known for his work on bioluminescence and anesthesia. He coined the terms ''proteon'' and ''bioproteon,'' from the Greek "proteon" for matter and "bios ...

, discoverer of the chemical nature of

bioluminescence Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some b ...

to found a marine biology station in Tamaris.

References

*Thobie, Jacques (2004) ''L'administration générale des phares de l'Empire ottoman et la société Collas et Michel, 1860-1960''. Paris: L'Harmattan, 300 pp. *Bertand, Nathalie (2003) ''Tamaris, entre Orient et Occident'', (Essais Sciences.) 235 pp. *Trankova, Dimana; Georgieff, Anthony & Matanov, Hristo (2011) ''A Guide to Ottoman Bulgaria'' Sofia: Vagabond Media {{DEFAULTSORT:Michel Pasha, Marius 1819 births 1907 deaths Lighthouse builders Pashas Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 1st class Mayors of places in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Papal counts