The Parc du Mugel is a municipal park and botanical garden in the town of La Ciotat, in the French department of

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 ...

, on the Mediterranean coast of France between

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 ...

and

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 ...

. It is listed among the

Remarkable Gardens of France The Remarkable Gardens of France is intended to be a list and description, by region, of the more than three hundred gardens classified as ''"Jardins remarquables"'' by the Ministry of Culture (France), Ministry of Culture and the Comi ...

by the French Ministry of Culture.

History

In 1805 the park was divided into three properties, which were joined in 1870. In 1923 the land was purchased by Marseille coal merchant Louis Fouquet, who created the tropical garden. In 1941 the one of the buildings on the site was converted into a youth hostel. Among other notable guests was Dr S. Goldschlager and his wife Sala, refugees from Nazi Europe. In 1947 the house and park was bought by the Bonzo family, who sold thirteen hectares in 1952 to the town of La Ciotat. The town eventually bought the entire property, and, in 1982, the park was opened to the public.

The site

The park, twelve hectares in size, is located on the edge of the calanque of La Ciotat, a rocky inlet of the Mediterranean, and has a small beach on the calanque. It is at the foot of a massive rock, Le Bec d'Aigle (Eng: The Eagle's Beak), 155 meters high, which shelters the site from the wind, while the Mediterranean warms it in the winter, and keeps the temperature down in the summer. The Bec d'Aigle is composed of an unusual agglomerate called "Poudingue" ("Pudding"), which is believed to be the remnant of a former continent, the pyreneo-sardo-corse land mass, which once occupied the Mediterranean. The park is watered by several small reservoirs, which capture the rain running off the rock.

The Tropical Garden

The tropical garden contains thirty different species of palm trees, as well as mimosa,

bougainvillia ''Bougainvillia'' is a genus of hydroids in the family Bougainvilliidae in the class Hydrazoa. Members of the genus are characterised by having the marginal tentacles of their medusae arranged in four bundles. Some species are solitary and oth ...

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

, and other tropical plants. It also features a garden of aromatic plants. A garden of lavender is planted just below the main house.

The Provençal Nature Preserve

The nature preserve covers the steep hillside between the tropical garden and the Bec D'Aigle. It is composed of native liege oak trees, and the traditional brush landscape, locally called garrigue.

References

*Official brochure on the Parc du Mugel, published by the City of La Ciotat

External links