Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the
prefecture
A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
of the
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
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 ...
and capital of the
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
. Situated in the camargue region of southern France, it is located on the coast of the
Gulf of Lion
The Gulf of Lion or Gulf of Lions ( French: ''golfe du Lion'', Spanish: ''golfo de León'', Italian: ''Golfo del Leone'', Occitan: ''golf del/dau Leon'', Catalan: ''golf del Lleó'', Medieval Latin: ''sinus Leonis'', ''mare Leonis'', Classical L ...
, part of the
Mediterranean Sea
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 ea ...
, near the mouth of the
Rhône
The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...
river. Its inhabitants are called ''Marseillais''.
Marseille is the second most populous city in France, with 870,731 inhabitants in 2019 (Jan. census)
over a municipal territory of . Together with its
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
s and
exurb
An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It s ...
s, the Marseille
metropolitan area
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...
, which extends over , had a population of 1,873,270 at the Jan. 2019 census,
the third most populated in France after those of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
. The cities of Marseille,
Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
, and 90 suburban municipalities have formed since 2016 the
Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis
The Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis (french: métropole d'Aix-Marseille-Provence) is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the cities of Marseille and Aix-en-Provence. It is located in the Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Vauclus ...
, an
indirectly elected
An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...
metropolitan authority now in charge of wider metropolitan issues, with a population of 1,898,561 at the Jan. 2019 census.
Founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers from
Phocaea
Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionia
Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northern ...
, Marseille is the oldest city in France, as well as one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited settlements. It was known to the
ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cultu ...
as
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 ...
() and to
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
as ''Massilia''. The name ''Massalia'' probably derives from
μᾶζα' (mass, lump, barley-cake), the "lump" being the
La Garde rock. Marseille has been a trading port since ancient times. In particular, it experienced a considerable commercial boom during the colonial period and especially during the 19th century, becoming a prosperous industrial and trading city. Nowadays the
Old Port still lies at the heart of the city where the manufacturing of soap, its famous
savon de Marseille, began some 6 centuries ago. Overlooking the port is the
Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde or "Bonne-mère" for the people of Marseille, a
Romano-Byzantine church and the symbol of the city. Inherited from this past, the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille (GPMM) and the maritime economy are major poles of regional and national activity and Marseille remains the first French port, the second
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 ...
port and the fifth European port. Since its origins, Marseille's openness to the Mediterranean Sea has made it a
cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
city marked by cultural and economic exchanges with Southern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. In Europe, the city has the third largest Jewish community after
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
In the 1990s, the
Euroméditerranée
Euroméditerranée () is an urban renewal project underway in Marseille to create an ecodistrict in the neighbourhood of La Joliette.
The project was launched in 1995 with the initiative of Mayor Robert Vigouroux
Robert Vigouroux (21 March ...
project for economic development and urban renewal was launched. New infrastructures and renovations were carried out in the 2000s and 2010s: the
tramway, the renovation of the
Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...
into a luxury hotel, the expansion of the
Velodrome Stadium, the
CMA CGM Tower
The CMA CGM Tower is a 147 m tall skyscraper in Euroméditerranée, the central business district of Marseille, France. Designed by Zaha Hadid, it is the headquarters for CMA CGM, a major shipping firm, hosting 2,200 employees previously ...
, as well as other quayside museums such as the
Museum of Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean (MuCEM). As a result, Marseille now has the most museums in France after
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. The city was named
European Capital of Culture in 2013 and European Capital of Sport in 2017. Additionally, Marseille hosted matches at the
1998 World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
and
Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
. It is also home to several higher education institutions in the region, including the
University of Aix-Marseille
Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II of ...
.
Geography
![Marseille-corniche](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Marseille-corniche.jpg)
Marseille is the third-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris and Lyon. To the east, starting in the small fishing village of Callelongue on the outskirts of Marseille and stretching as far as
Cassis
Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 2016, it ...
, are the
Calanque
A calanque (, "inlet"; co, calanca, plural ''calanche'' or ''calanchi''; oc, calanca, plural ''calancas'') is a narrow, steep-walled inlet that is developed in limestone, dolomite, or other carbonate strata and found along the Mediterranean co ...
s, a rugged coastal area interspersed with small
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...
-like inlets. Farther east still are the
Sainte-Baume
The Sainte-Baume ( Provençal: ''Massís de la Santa Bauma'' according to classical orthography and ''La Santo Baumo'' according to mistralian orthography) is a mountain ridge spreading between the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône and Var in So ...
(a mountain ridge rising from a forest of
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
trees), the city of
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 ...
and 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 ...
. To the north of Marseille, beyond the low
Garlaban
Garlaban is a hill which looks out to Aubagne. The summit is 715 metres high although its highest point is the ''butte des pinsots'' (731 m).
It can be seen from most of the southern part of Bouches-du-Rhône, from Marseille to the valley of Huvea ...
and Etoile
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
s, is the
Mont Sainte Victoire. To the west of Marseille is the former artists' colony of
l'Estaque
L'Estaque is a village in southern France, just west of Marseille. Administratively, it belongs to the commune of Marseille.
Overview
Many artists of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods visited or resided there or in the surrounding ...
; farther west are 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 / mar ...
, the
Gulf of Lion
The Gulf of Lion or Gulf of Lions ( French: ''golfe du Lion'', Spanish: ''golfo de León'', Italian: ''Golfo del Leone'', Occitan: ''golf del/dau Leon'', Catalan: ''golf del Lleó'', Medieval Latin: ''sinus Leonis'', ''mare Leonis'', Classical L ...
and the
Camargue
Camargue (, also , , ; oc, label= Provençal, Camarga) is a region of France located south of Arles, between the Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Rhône delta. The eastern arm is called the ''Grand Rhône''; the western one is the ''P ...
region in the
Rhône
The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...
delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also re ...
. The
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
lies to the north west of the city at
Marignane
Marignane (; oc, Marinhana) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France.
Geography
It is a component of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, and the largest suburb of the cit ...
on the
Étang de Berre
The Étang de Berre (in Provençal Occitan: ''estanh de Bèrra / mar de Bèrra'' according to classical orthography, ''estang de Berro / mar de Berro'' according to Mistralian orthography) is a brackish water lagoon on the Mediterranean coast of ...
.
[Michelin Guide to Provence, ]
The city's main thoroughfare (the wide boulevard called the
Canebière
La Canebière is a historic high street in the old quarter of Marseille, France.
Location
About a kilometre long, it runs from the ''Old Port of Marseille'' to the ''Réformés'' quarter.Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls, ''Provence'', New Holland Publ ...
) stretches eastward from the
Old Port to the Réformés quarter. Two large forts flank the entrance to the Old Port—Fort Saint-Nicolas on the south side and
Fort Saint-Jean on the north. Farther out in the Bay of Marseille is the
Frioul archipelago
The Frioul archipelago is a group of four islands located off the Mediterranean coast of France, approximately from Marseille. The islands of the archipelago cover a total land area of approximately 200 hectares. According to the 2015 cens ...
which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of
Château d'If
The Château d'If () is a fortress located on the Île d'If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago, situated about offshore from Marseille in southeastern France. Built in the 16th century, it later served as a prison until the end o ...
, made famous by the
Dumas novel ''
The Count of Monte Cristo
''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...
''. The main commercial centre of the city intersects with the Canebière at Rue St Ferréol and the Centre Bourse (one of the city's main shopping malls). The centre of Marseille has several pedestrianised zones, most notably Rue St Ferréol, Cours Julien near the Music Conservatory, the Cours Honoré-d'Estienne-d'Orves off the Old Port and the area around the Hôtel de Ville. To the south east of central Marseille in the
6th arrondissement
The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''.
The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in ...
are the Prefecture and the monumental fountain of Place Castellane, an important bus and metro interchange. To the south west are the hills of the
7th
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...
and
8th arrondissements, dominated by the
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
of
Notre-Dame de la Garde
Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally: Our Lady of the Guard), known to local citizens as ''la Bonne Mère'' (French for 'the Good Mother'), is a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France, and the city's best-known symbol. The site of a popular Assump ...
. Marseille's main railway station—
Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles—is north of the Centre Bourse in the 1st arrondissement; it is linked by the Boulevard d'Athènes to the Canebière.
Climate
The city has a
hot-summer mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
: ''Csa'') with cool-mild winters with moderate rainfall, because of the wet westerly winds, and hot, mostly dry summers, due to the dry winds blowing from the Sahara desert at that period.
December, January, and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of around during the day and at night. July and August are the hottest months, averaging temperatures of around during the day and at night in the Marignane airport ( from Marseille) but in the city near the sea the average high temperature is in July.
Marseille is officially the sunniest major city in France with over 2,800 hours of sunshine while the average sunshine in the country is around 1,950 hours. It is also the driest major city with only of precipitation annually, mainly due to the
Mistral
Mistral may refer to:
* Mistral (wind) in southern France and Sardinia
Automobiles
* Maserati Mistral, a Maserati grand tourer produced from 1963 until 1970
* Nissan Mistral, or Terrano II, a Nissan 4×4 produced from 1993 until 2006
* Microp ...
, a cold, dry wind originating in the
Rhône
The Rhône ( , ; wae, Rotten ; frp, Rôno ; oc, Ròse ) is a major river in France and Switzerland, rising in the Alps and flowing west and south through Lake Geneva and southeastern France before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. At Ar ...
Valley that occurs mostly in winter and spring and which generally brings clear skies and sunny weather to the region. Less frequent is the
Sirocco
Sirocco ( ), scirocco, or, rarely, siroc (see below) is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and can reach hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe, especially during the summer season.
Names
''Sirocco'' derives from ...
, a hot, sand-bearing wind, coming from the
Sahara Desert
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
. Snowfalls are infrequent; over 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall.
The hottest temperature was on 26 July 1983 during a great heat wave, the lowest temperature was on 13 February 1929 during a strong cold wave.
[
]
History
Marseille was founded as the Greek colony
Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC.
This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...
of 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 ...
circa 600 BC, and was populated by Greek settlers from Phocaea
Phocaea or Phokaia (Ancient Greek: Φώκαια, ''Phókaia''; modern-day Foça in Turkey) was an ancient Ionia
Ionia () was an ancient region on the western coast of Anatolia, to the south of present-day Izmir. It consisted of the northern ...
(modern Foça
Foça is a town and district in Turkey's İzmir Province, on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast. The town of Foça is situated at about northwest of İzmir's city center. The district also has a township with its own municipality named Yenifoça (lite ...
, Turkey). It became the preeminent Greek ''polis
''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...
'' in the Hellenized
Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...
region of southern Gaul. The city-state sided with the Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
against Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
during the Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
(218–201 BC), retaining its independence and commercial empire throughout the western 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 eas ...
even as Rome expanded its empire into Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
and North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
. However, the city lost its independence following the Roman Siege of Massilia
The siege of Massilia, including two naval engagements, was an episode of Caesar's Civil War, fought in 49 BC between forces loyal to the Optimates and a detachment of Caesar's army. The siege was conducted by Gaius Trebonius, one of Caesar's s ...
in 49 BC, during Caesar's Civil War
Caesar's civil war (49–45 BC) was one of the last politico-military conflicts of the Roman Republic before its reorganization into the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations between Gaius Julius Caesar and ...
, in which Massalia sided with the exiled faction at war with Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
. Afterward, the Gallo-Roman culture
Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...
was initiated.
The city maintained its position as a premier maritime trading hub even after its capture by the Visigoths
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...
in the fifth century AD, although the city went into decline following the sack of AD 739 by the forces of Charles Martel
Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesma ...
against the Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
. It became part of the County of Provence
The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...
during the tenth century, although its renewed prosperity was curtailed by the Black Death of the 14th century and a sack of the city by the Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...
in 1423. The city's fortunes rebounded with the ambitious building projects of René of Anjou
René of Anjou ( it, Renato; oc, Rainièr; ca, Renat; 1409–1480) was Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1434 to 1480, who also reigned as King of Naples as René I from 1435 to 1442 (then deposed as the preceding dynasty was restored to ...
, Count of Provence, who strengthened the city's fortifications during the mid-15th century. During the 16th century, the city hosted a naval fleet with the combined forces of the Franco-Ottoman alliance
The Franco-Ottoman Alliance, also known as the Franco-Turkish Alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between the King of France Francis I and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Suleiman I. The strategic and sometimes tactical alliance was o ...
, which threatened the ports and navies of the Genoese Republic
The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...
.
Marseille lost a significant portion of its population during the Great Plague of Marseille
The Great Plague of Marseille was the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Western Europe. Arriving in Marseille, France, in 1720, the disease killed a total of 100,000 people: 50,000 in the city during the next two years and another 50,000 t ...
in 1720, but the population had recovered by mid-century. In 1792, the city became a focal point of the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, and though France's national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
was born in Strasbourg, it was first sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille, hence the name the crowd gave it: ''La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...
''. The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
and establishment of the Second French colonial empire
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existe ...
during the 19th century allowed for the further expansion of the city, although it was occupied by the German Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
in November 1942 and subsequently heavily damaged during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The city has since become a major center for immigrant communities from former French colonies in Africa, such as French Algeria
French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
.
Economy
Marseille is a major French centre for trade and industry, with excellent transportation infrastructure (roads, sea port and airport). Marseille Provence Airport is the fourth largest in France. In May 2005, the French financial magazine ''L'Expansion'' named Marseille the most dynamic of France's large cities, citing figures showing that 7,200 companies had been created in the city since 2000. , the Marseille metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $60.3 billion, or $36,127 per capita (purchasing power parity).
Port
Historically, the economy of Marseille was dominated by its role as a port of the French Empire, linking the North African colonies of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia with Metropolitan France
Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...
. The Old Port was replaced as the main port for trade by the Port de la Joliette (now part of Marseille-Fos Port
Marseille-Fos Port () is the main trade seaport of France. In 2011, the port had an overall traffic of 88 million tons. It was also one of the 15 world's largest cruise ports and the fifth-largest in the Mediterranean.
It has two main sites: in n ...
) during the Second Empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
and now contains restaurants, offices, bars and hotels and functions mostly as a private marina. The majority of the port and docks, which experienced decline in the 1970s after the oil crisis, have been recently redeveloped with funds from the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
. Fishing remains important in Marseille and the food economy of Marseille is fed by the local catch; a daily fish market is still held on the Quai des Belges of the Old Port.
The economy of Marseille and its region is still linked to its commercial port, the first French port and the fifth European port by cargo tonnage, which lies north of the Old Port and eastern in 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 ...
. Some 45,000 jobs are linked to the port activities and it represents 4 billion euros added value to the regional economy. 100 million tons of freight
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...
pass annually through the port, 60% of which is petroleum, making it number one in France and the Mediterranean and number three in Europe. However, in the early 2000s, the growth in container traffic was being stifled by the constant strikes and social upheaval. The port is among the 20th firsts in Europe for container traffic with 1,062,408 TEU and new infrastructures have already raised the capacity to 2M TEU. Marseille is connected with the Rhône via a canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
and thus has access to the extensive waterway network of France. Petroleum is shipped northward to the Paris basin by pipeline. The city also serves as France's leading centre of oil refining.
Companies, services and high technologies
In recent years, the city has also experienced a large growth in service sector
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
employment and a switch from light manufacturing
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...
to a cultural, high-tech
High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
economy. The Marseille region is home to thousands of companies, 90% of which are small and medium enterprises
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...
with less than 500 employees. Among the most famous ones are CMA CGM
CMA CGM S.A. is a French container transportation and shipping company. It is the world’s 3rd largest container shipping company, using 257 shipping routes between 420 ports in 160 countries. Its headquarters are in Marseille, France The name ...
, container-shipping giant; Compagnie maritime d'expertises
COMEX (or Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises) is a French company specializing in engineering and deep diving operations, created in November 1961 by Henri-Germain Delauze and ran by him until his death in 2012.
This company is known worldwide for ...
(Comex), world leader in sub-sea engineering and hydraulic systems; Airbus Helicopters
Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturer, helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located ...
, an Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
division; Azur Promotel, an active real estate development
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parcels ...
company; ''La Provence'', the local daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
; RTM, Marseille's public transport company; and Société Nationale Maritime Corse Méditerranée (SNCM), a major operator in passenger, vehicle and freight transportation in the Western Mediterranean. The urban operation Euroméditerranée
Euroméditerranée () is an urban renewal project underway in Marseille to create an ecodistrict in the neighbourhood of La Joliette.
The project was launched in 1995 with the initiative of Mayor Robert Vigouroux
Robert Vigouroux (21 March ...
has developed a large offer of offices and thus Marseille hosts one of the main business district in France.
Marseille is the home of three main technopole
A technopole, commonly referred to as a high-technology cluster or tech hub, refers to a center of high-tech manufacturing and information-based quaternary industry. The term was coined by Allen J. Scott in 1990 to describe regions in Southern Ca ...
s: Château-Gombert (technological innovations), Luminy (biotechnology) and La Belle de Mai (17,000 sq.m. of offices dedicated to multimedia activities).
Tourism and attractions
The port is also an important arrival base for millions of people each year, with 2.4 million including 890,100 from cruise ships.[
With its beaches, history, architecture and culture (24 museums and 42 theatres), Marseille is one of the most visited cities in France, with 4.1 million visitors in 2012.
They take place in three main sites, the ]Palais du Pharo
The Palais du Pharo is a palace in Marseille, France. It was built in 1858 by Emperor Napoleon III for Empress Eugénie
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or anot ...
, Palais des Congrès et des Expositions (Parc Chanot) and World Trade Center. In 2012 Marseille hosted the World Water Forum
The World Water Forum (WWF) is an event focusing on perceived issues surrounding water. It is organized by the World Water Council and Global Water Partnership and takes place every three years.
Aim
World Water Forum aims to:
:* Raise awareness ...
.
Several urban projects have been developed to make Marseille attractive. Thus new parks, museums, public spaces and real estate projects aim to improve the city's quality of life (Parc du 26e Centenaire
The Parc du 26e Centenaire (English: 26th Centenary Park) is a public park located in the 8th arrondissement of Marseille, France. It is listed by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Remarkable Gardens of France.
Description
The eightee ...
, Old Port of Marseille
The Old Port of Marseille (French: ''Vieux-Port de Marseille'', ) is at the end of the Canebière, the major street of Marseille. It has been the natural harbour of the city since antiquity and is now the main popular place in Marseille. It became ...
, numerous places in Euroméditerranée
Euroméditerranée () is an urban renewal project underway in Marseille to create an ecodistrict in the neighbourhood of La Joliette.
The project was launched in 1995 with the initiative of Mayor Robert Vigouroux
Robert Vigouroux (21 March ...
) to attract firms and people. Marseille municipality acts to develop Marseille as a regional nexus for entertainment in the south of France with high concentration of museums, cinemas, theatres, clubs, bars, restaurants, fashion shops, hotels, and art galleries
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...
.
Employment
Unemployment in the economy fell from 20% in 1995 to 14% in 2004. However, Marseille unemployment rate remains higher than the national average. In some parts of Marseille, youth unemployment is reported to be as high as 40%.
Administration
The city of Marseille is divided into 16 municipal arrondissements, which are themselves informally divided into 111 neighbourhoods (French: ''quartiers''). The arrondissements are regrouped in pairs, into 8 sectors, each with a mayor and council (like the arrondissements in Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
). Municipal elections are held every six years and are carried out by sector. There are 303 councilmembers in total, two-thirds sitting in the sector councils and one third in the city council.
The 9th arrondissement of Marseille
The 9th arrondissement of Marseille is one of 16 arrondissements of Marseille. This district is the largest in the city. The 9th arrondissement borders the 8th, 10th and 11th arrondissements. It is governed locally together with the 10th arrondiss ...
is the largest in terms of area because it comprises parts of Calanques National Park
Calanques National Park (French language, French: ''Parc national des Calanques'') is a List of national parks of France, French national park located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in Bouches-du-Rhône, Southern France. It was est ...
. With a population of 89,316 (2007), the 13th arrondissement of Marseille
The 13th arrondissement of Marseille is one of the 16 arrondissements of Marseille
This list of arrondissements of Marseille, France, include their INSEE code, postal code, sectors and neighbourhoods.
List
Prevolutionary parishes
Before th ...
is the most populous one.
From 1950 to the mid-1990s, Marseille was a Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
(PS) and Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
(PCF) stronghold. Gaston Defferre
Gaston Defferre (14 September 1910 – 7 May 1986) was a French Socialist politician. He served as mayor of Marseille for 33 years until his death in 1986. He was minister for overseas territories in Guy Mollet’s socialist government in 1956 ...
(PS) was consecutively reelected six times as Mayor of Marseille from 1953 until his death in 1986. He was succeeded by Robert Vigouroux
Robert Vigouroux (21 March 1923 – 9 July 2017) was a French politician and writer. He was the Mayor of Marseille (the second largest city in France) from 1986 to 1995, and a French Senator for the Bouches-du-Rhone from 1989 to 1998.'Municip ...
of the European Democratic and Social Rally
The European Democratic and Social Rally group (french: groupe du Rassemblement démocratique et social européen, abbreviated RDSE), formerly the Democratic and European Rally group (french: groupe du Rassemblement démocratique et européen), is ...
(RDSE). Jean-Claude Gaudin
Jean-Claude Gaudin (; born 8 October 1939) is a French politician for The Republicans. He served as the Mayor of Marseille from 1995 to 2020.
He was a member of the National Assembly of France from Bouches-du-Rhône from 1978 to 1989 and has be ...
of the conservative UMP was elected Mayor of Marseille in 1995. Gaudin was reelected in 2001, 2008 and 2014.
In recent years, the Communist Party has lost most of its strength in the northern boroughs of the city, whereas the National Front has received significant support. At the last municipal election in 2014, Marseille was divided between the northern arrondissements dominated by the left (PS) and far-right (FN) and the southern part of town dominated by the conservative (UMP). Marseille is also divided in twelve cantons, each of them sending two members to the Departmental Council of 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 ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
.
Mayors of Marseille since the beginning of the 20th century
Demographics
Immigration
Because of its pre-eminence as a Mediterranean port, Marseille has always been one of the main gateways into France. This has attracted many immigrants and made Marseille a cosmopolitan melting pot
The melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous throug ...
. By the end of the 18th century about half the population originated from elsewhere in Provence mostly and also from southern France.
Economic conditions and political unrest in Europe and the rest of the world brought several other waves of immigrants during the 20th century: Greeks and Italians started arriving at the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, up to 40% of the city's population was of Italian origin; Russians in 1917; Armenians in 1915 and 1923; Vietnamese in the 1920s, 1954 and after 1975; Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
ns during the 1920s and 1930s; Spanish after 1936; Maghrebis
Maghrebis or Maghrebians ( ar, المغاربيون) is a modern Arabic term meaning "Westerners", mainly referring to the western part of the Arab world and North Africa. Maghrebis are predominantly of Arab and Berber or mixed Arab-Berber ori ...
(both Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
) in the inter-war period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...
; Sub-Saharan Africans after 1945; Maghrebi Jews
:''See Mashriqi Jews for more information about Jews in the rest of North Africa and Western Asia.''
Maghrebi Jews ( or , ''Maghrebim'') or North African Jews ( ''Yehudei Tzfon Africa'') are ethnic Jews who had traditionally lived in the Maghre ...
in the 1950s and 1960s; the Pieds-Noirs
The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alger ...
from the former French Algeria
French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...
in 1962; and then from Comoros
The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...
.
Currently, about one third of the population of Marseille can trace their roots back to Italy. Marseille also has the second-largest Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
n and Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
populations of France. Other significant communities include Maghrebis
Maghrebis or Maghrebians ( ar, المغاربيون) is a modern Arabic term meaning "Westerners", mainly referring to the western part of the Arab world and North Africa. Maghrebis are predominantly of Arab and Berber or mixed Arab-Berber ori ...
, Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
, Comorians
The Comorians ( ar, القمري) inhabiting Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli (86% of the population) share African-Arab origins. Islam is the dominant religion, and Quranic schools for children reinforce its influence. Although Islamic cultu ...
, Chinese, and Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
.
The largest immigrant communities are Italians (290,000 Italians, or 33%), then Muslims - mainly Maghrebis (200,000 Muslims, or 23%), then Corsicans (100,000 Corsicans, or 11.5%), then Armenians (80,000 Armenians, or 9%).
In 1999, in several arrondissements, about 40% of the young people under 18 were of Maghrebi origin (at least one immigrant parent).
Since 2013 a significant number of Central- and Eastern European immigrants have settled in Marseille, attracted by better job opportunities and the good climate of this Mediterranean city. The main nationalities of the immigrants are Romanian and Polish.
Religion
According to data from 2010, major religious communities in Marseille include:
*Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
- 909,930 or 84.5% (Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
68.5%, Armenian Apostolic
, native_name_lang = hy
, icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg
, icon_width = 100px
, icon_alt =
, image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, a ...
7.5%, Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement ] 7.1%, Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox 1.4%)
*Islam, Muslim - 200,000 or 25%
*Non-religious -156.000 or 14.5%
*Jewish - 52,000 - 80,000 or 4.9%
*Hindu - 4,000 or 0.4%
*Buddhist - 3,000 or 0.3%.
Culture
Marseille is a city that has its own unique culture and is proud of its differences from the rest of France. Today it is a regional centre for culture and entertainment with an important opera house
An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets.
While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...
, historical and maritime museums, five art galleries and numerous cinemas, clubs, bars and restaurants.
Marseille has a large number of theatres, including La Criée, Le Gymnase and the Théâtre Toursky. There is also an extensive arts centre
An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...
in La Friche
La Friche de la Belle de Mai or La Friche (English: The Fallow; The Wasteland) is a former tobacco factory near the Saint-Charles station in Marseille, France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily lo ...
, a former match factory behind the Saint-Charles station. The Alcazar, until the 1960s a well known music hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Bri ...
and variety theatre
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère ...
, has recently been completely remodelled behind its original façade and now houses the central municipal library. Other music venues in Marseille include Le Silo (also a theatre) and GRIM
Grim may refer to:
People
* Grim (surname)
* Myron Grim Natwick (1890–1990), American artist, animator and film director best known for drawing Betty Boop
Mythical or fictional characters
* Grim, Old Norse ''Grímr'', from the Norse saga '' Gr ...
.
Marseille has also been important in the arts. It has been the birthplace and home of many French writers and poets, including , Valère Bernard
Valère Bernard ( oc, Valèri Bernard; 10 February 1860 – 6 October 1936) was a Provençal painter, engraver, novelist and poet, writing in the Occitan language. He left an important body of graphic work, and his works continued to be publis ...
, Pierre Bertas
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
, Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with t ...
and André Roussin
André Roussin, (22 January 1911 – 3 November 1987), was a French playwright. Born in Marseille, he was elected to the Académie française on 12 April 1973.
Bibliography
*1933 ''Patiences et impatiences''
*1944 ''Am Stram Gram''
*1945 ''U ...
. The small port of l'Estaque
L'Estaque is a village in southern France, just west of Marseille. Administratively, it belongs to the commune of Marseille.
Overview
Many artists of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods visited or resided there or in the surrounding ...
on the far end of the Bay of Marseille became a favourite haunt for artists, including Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...
, Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a ...
(who frequently visited from his home in Aix
Aix or AIX may refer to:
Computing
* AIX, a line of IBM computer operating systems
*An Alternate Index, for a Virtual Storage Access Method Key Sequenced Data Set
*Athens Internet Exchange, a European Internet exchange point
Places Belgium
...
), Georges Braque
Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...
and Raoul Dufy
Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvism, Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramic art, ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public bu ...
.
Multi-cultural influences
Rich and poor neighborhoods exist side by side. Although the city is not without crime, Marseille has a larger degree of multicultural tolerance. Urban geographers say the city's geography, being surrounded by mountains, helps explain why Marseille does not have the same problems as Paris. In Paris, ethnic areas are segregated and concentrated in the periphery of the city. Residents of Marseille are of diverse origins, yet appear to share a similar particular identity. An example is how Marseille responded in 2005, when ethnic populations living in other French cities' suburbs rioted, but Marseille remained relatively calm.
Marseille served as the European Capital of Culture for 2013 along with Košice
Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...
. It was chosen to give a 'human face' to the European Union to celebrate cultural diversity and to increase understanding between Europeans. One of the intentions of highlighting culture is to help reposition Marseille internationally, stimulate the economy, and help to build better interconnection between groups. Marseille-Provence 2013
Marseille-Provence 2013 or MP2013 was the year-long series of cultural events that took place in Marseille, France, and the surrounding area to celebrate the territory's designation as the European Capital of Culture for 2013. In total, there we ...
(MP2013) featured more than 900 cultural events held throughout Marseille and the surrounding communities. These cultural events generated more than 11 million visits. The European Capital of Culture was also the occasion to unveil more than 600 million euros in new cultural infrastructure in Marseille and its environs, including the MuCEM
The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem; French: ''Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée'') is a national museum located in Marseille, France. It was inaugurated on 7 June 2013 as part of Marseille-Prove ...
designed by Rudy Ricciotti
Rudy Ricciotti (born 22 August 1952) is a French architect and publisher.Lanie GoodmanGround Breaker ''The New York Times'', September 17, 2012 .
Early on, immigrants came to Marseille locally from the surrounding Provence region. By the 1890s immigrants came from other regions of France as well as Italy. Marseille became one of Europe's busiest port by 1900. Marseille has served as a major port where immigrants from around the Mediterranean arrive. Marseille continued to be multicultural. Armenians from the Ottoman Empire began arriving in 1913. In the 1930s, Italians settled in Marseille. After World War II, a wave of Jewish immigrants from North Africa arrived. In 1962, a number of French colonies gained their independence, and the French citizens from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia arrived in Marseille. The city had an economic downturn and lost many jobs. Those who could afford to move left and the poorest remained. For a while, the mafia appeared to run the city, and for a period of time the communist party was prominent.
Multi-cultural Marseille can be observed by a visitor at the market at Noailles, also called Marché des Capucins, in old town near the Old Port. There, Lebanese bakeries, an African spice market, Chinese and Vietnamese groceries, fresh vegetables and fruit, shops selling couscous, shops selling Caribbean food are side by side with stalls selling shoes and clothing from around the Mediterranean. Nearby, people sell fresh fish and men from Tunisia drink tea.
Although most Armenians arrived after the Armenian Genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...
, Armenians had a long presence even before the 20th and late 19th centuries. Armenians, having an extensive trade network worldwide, massively traded with Marseille and its port. Most notably, during the 16th century, and after the Armenians gained a monopoly over Iranian silk, which was granted to them by Shah Abbas of Iran, the trade flow of Armenians of Marseille increased tremendously. Merchants of Armenian origin received trade privileges in France by Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (1585–1642) and later on Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683) Marseille a free port in 1669. One notable Armenian-Iranian merchant gained a patent from Louis XIV (1638–1715) over Iranian silk. Armenians also became successful money-lenders and bankers in the city. Due to these policies and the multiculturalism of the city of Marseille, Armenians became very wealthy, and the legacy of the Armenians in the city still lives on.
Tarot de Marseille
The most commonly used tarot
The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...
deck takes its name from the city; it has been called the ''Tarot de Marseille
The Tarot of Marseilles is a standard pattern of Italian-suited tarot pack with 78 cards that was very popular in France in the 17th and 18th centuries for playing tarot card games and is still produced today. It was probably created in Milan befo ...
'' since the 1930s—a name coined for commercial use by the French cardmaker and cartomancer Paul Marteau, owner of B–P Grimaud. Previously this deck was called ''Tarot italien'' (Italian Tarot) and even earlier it was simply called Tarot. Before being ''de Marseille'', it was used to play the local variant of tarocchi
Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...
before it became used in cartomancy
Cartomancy is fortune-telling or divination using a deck of cards. Forms of cartomancy appeared soon after playing cards were first introduced into Europe in the 14th century. Huson, Paul (2004). ''Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient R ...
at the end of the 18th century, following the trend set by Antoine Court de Gébelin
Antoine Court, who named himself Antoine Court de Gébelin (Nîmes, 25 January 1725 At Google Books.Paris, 10 May 1784), was a former Protestant pastor, born in Nîmes, who initiated the interpretation of the Tarot as an arcane repository of timel ...
. The name ''Tarot de Marseille'' (Marteau used the name ''ancien Tarot de Marseille'') was used by contrast to other types of Tarots such as ''Tarot de Besançon
Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...
''; those names were simply associated with cities where there were many cardmakers in the 18th century (previously several cities in France were involved in cardmaking).
Another local tradition is the making of santons
A santon is a small hand-painted figurine cast in terracotta or a similar material that is used for building nativity scenes. Santons are a traditional product of the Provence region of southeastern France. A maker of santons is called a ''sant ...
, small hand-crafted figurines for the traditional Provençal Christmas creche. Since 1803, starting on the last Sunday of November, there has been a Santon Fair in Marseille; it is currently held in the Cours d'Estienne d'Orves, a large square off the Vieux-Port.
Opera
Marseille's main cultural attraction was, since its creation at the end of the 18th century and until the late 1970s, the Opéra
This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names.
"Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...
. Located near the Old Port and the Canebière, at the very heart of the city, its architectural style
An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...
was comparable to the classical trend found in other opera houses built at the same time in Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
and Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
. In 1919, a fire almost completely destroyed the house, leaving only the stone colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
and peristyle
In ancient Greek and Roman architecture, a peristyle (; from Greek ) is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of a building or a courtyard. Tetrastoön ( grc, τετράστῳον or τετράστοον, lit=fou ...
from the original façade. The classical façade was restored and the opera house reconstructed in a predominantly Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style, as the result of a major competition. Currently the Opéra de Marseille stages six or seven operas each year.
Since 1972, the Ballet national de Marseille
The Ballet National de Marseille is a dance company based in Marseille, France. The company combines modern dance and classical ballet.
Overview
The Ballet National de Marseille was founded by the dancer and choreographer Roland Petit in 1972.
T ...
has performed at the opera house; its director from its foundation to 1998 was Roland Petit
Roland Petit (13 January 192410 July 2011) was a French ballet company director, choreographer and dancer. He trained at the Paris Opera Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets.
Life and work
The son of shoe designer Ros ...
.
Popular events and festivals
There are several popular festivals in different neighborhoods, with concerts, animations, and outdoor bars, like the Fête du Panier in June. On 21 June, there are dozens of free concerts in the city as part of France's Fête de la Musique
The Fête de la Musique, also known in English as Music Day, Make Music Day or World Music Day, is an annual music celebration that takes place on 21 June. On Music Day, citizens and residents are urged to play music outside in their neighborho ...
, featuring music from all over the world. Being free events, many Marseille residents attend.
Marseille hosts a Gay Pride event in early July. In 2013, Marseille hosted Europride, an international LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
event, 10 July20. At the beginning of July, there is the International Documentary Festival. At the end of September, the electronic music festival Marsatac
Marsatac is a festival of electronic music held at the end of September each year, in Marseille, France. Since 2009, the festival has had trouble finding a lasting location, and the City of Marseilles has often been criticized for not defending ...
takes place.
In October, the ''Fiesta des Suds'' offers many concerts of world music.
Hip hop music
Marseille is also well known in France for its hip hop music. Bands like IAM
IAM may refer to:
Concepts
* Identity and access management, a concept that combines business processes, policies and technologies
* Indo-Aryan migration, the theory that speakers of Indo-Aryan languages migrated into the Indian subcontinent dur ...
originated from Marseille. Other known groups include Fonky Family
Fonky Family () or La Fonky Family (often shortened to La Fonky, or La FF), is a French hip hop band from Marseille, consisting of four rappers, Le Rat Luciano, , and Sat, producer , DJ Djel, dancer Blaze, singer Karima, Flex (fetus) Nandel ...
, Psy 4 de la Rime
Psy 4 de la Rime () are a French hip hop band formed 1995 in Marseille comprising several rappers with immigrant backgrounds from former French colonies. Their original name was KDB, Kid Dog Black. The band was signed to 361 Records, a Marsei ...
(including rappers Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...
and Alonzo
Alonzo is both a given name and a Spanish surname. Notable people with the name include:
Mononym
*Alonzo (rapper), French singer and hip hop artist, formerly Segnor Alonzo of Psy 4 de la Rime
Given name
*Alonzo de Barcena, 16th-century Spani ...
), and Keny Arkana
Victoire Monnier (born December 20, 1982 in Boulogne-Billancourt), professionally known by her stage name Keny Arkana, is an Argentine- French rapper who is active in the alter-globalization and civil disobedience movements. In 2004 she founded ...
.
In a slightly different way, ragga music
Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music.
Wayne Smi ...
is represented by Massilia Sound System
Massilia Sound System is a reggae band formed in Marseille, France, in 1984. They developed a Provence, Provençal hybrid version of reggae, rub-a-dub and raggamuffin, with lyrics in the French Language, French and Occitan language, Occitan langu ...
.
Food
*Bouillabaisse
Bouillabaisse (; oc, bolhabaissa, bullabessa ) is a traditional Provençal fish stew originating in the port city of Marseille. The French and English form ''bouillabaisse'' comes from the Provençal Occitan word ''bolhabaissa'', a compound t ...
is the most famous seafood dish of Marseille. It is a fish stew containing at least three varieties of very fresh local fish: typically red rascasse (Scorpaena scrofa
''Scorpaena scrofa'', the red scorpionfish, bigscale scorpionfish, large-scaled scorpion fish, or rascasse is a venomous marine species of ray-finned fish in the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean a ...
); sea robin
Prionotinae is a subfamily of demersal, marine ray-finned fishes, part of the family Triglidae. The fishes in this subfamily are called sea robins and are found in the Western Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans, the other two Triglid subfamilies ...
(fr: ''grondin''); and European conger
The European conger (''Conger conger'') is a species of conger of the family Congridae. It is the heaviest eel in the world and native to the northeast Atlantic, including the Mediterranean Sea.
Description and behavior
European congers have an ...
(fr: ''congre''). It can include gilt-head bream
Bream ( ) are species of freshwater and marine fish belonging to a variety of genera including ''Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), ''Acanthopagrus'', '' Argyrops'', ''Blicca'', '' Brama'', ''Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', ''Lepo ...
(fr: ''dorade''); turbot
The turbot (''Scophthalmus maximus'') is a relatively large species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is a demersal fish native to marine or brackish waters of the Northeast Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is an im ...
; monkfish
Members of the genus ''Lophius'', also sometimes called monkfish, fishing-frogs, frog-fish, and sea-devils, are various species of lophiid anglerfishes found in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. ''Lophius'' is known as the "monk" or "monkfish" ...
(fr: ''lotte'' or ''baudroie''); mullet; or silver hake
The term hake refers to fish in the:
* Family Merlucciidae of northern and southern oceans
* Family Phycidae (sometimes considered the subfamily Phycinae in the family Gadidae) of the northern oceans
Hake
Hake is in the same taxonomic order (Gad ...
(fr: ''merlan''), and it usually includes shellfish and other seafood such as sea urchin
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
s (fr: ''oursins''), mussels
Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve mollusc
Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,0 ...
(fr: ''moules''); velvet crab
The velvet crab, or alternately ''velvet swimming crab'', ''devil crab'', “fighter crab”, or ''lady crab,'' ''Necora puber'', is a species of crab from the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean. It is the largest of the swimming crab fam ...
s (fr: ''étrilles''); spider crab
The Majoidea are a superfamily of crabs which includes the various spider crabs.
Taxonomy
In "''A classification of living and fossil genera of decapod crustaceans''" De Grave and colleagues divided Majoidea into six families:
* Family Epialti ...
(fr: ''araignées de mer''), plus potatoes and vegetables. In the traditional version, the fish is served on a platter separate from the broth. The broth is served with rouille
Rouille (; ) is a sauce that consists of egg yolk and olive oil with breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron and cayenne pepper. It is served as a garnish with fish, fish soup and, notably, bouillabaisse. Rouille is most often used in the cuisine of Pr ...
, a mayonnaise made with egg yolk, olive oil, red bell pepper, saffron, and garlic, spread on pieces of toasted bread, or ''croûtons''. In Marseille, bouillabaisse is rarely made for fewer than ten people; the more people who share the meal, and the more different fish that are included, the better the bouillabaisse.
*Aïoli
Aioli, allioli or aïoli ( or ; Provençal oc, alhòli or ''aiòli'' ; ca, allioli ; es, alioli ) is a cold sauce consisting of an emulsion of garlic and olive oil; it is found in the cuisines of the northwest Mediterranean, from Andalusia ...
is a sauce made from raw garlic, lemon juice, eggs and olive oil, served with boiled fish, hard boiled eggs and cooked vegetables.[
* is a paste made from anchovies, garlic, and olive oil, spread on bread or served with raw vegetables.][
*]Bourride
Bourride (''bourrido'', in provençal, ''borrida'', in occitan) is a culinary specialty traditional to cuisine of Provence and Languedoc, based on fish, seafood, and vegetables, served with aïoli and olive oil. A variant of bouillabaisse or fish ...
is a soup made with white fish (monkfish, European sea bass, whiting, etc.) and aïoli.
* Fougasse is a flat Provençal bread, similar to the Italian focaccia
Focaccia ( , , ; lij, fugassa ; nap, label= Barese, fecazze ) is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread, similar in style and texture to pizza; in some places, it is called ("white pizza"). Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as san ...
. It is traditionally baked in a wood oven and sometimes filled with olives, cheese or anchovies.
* are, in the words of food writer M. F. K. Fisher
Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher (July 3, 1908 – June 22, 1992) was an American food writer. She was a founder of the Napa Valley Wine Library. Over her lifetime she wrote 27 books, including a translation of ''The Physiology of Taste'' by Brillat-S ...
, "little boat-shaped cookies, tough dough tasting vaguely of orange peel, smelling better than they are."
* Farinata#French variations is chickpea flour boiled into a thick mush, allowed to firm up, then cut into blocks and fried.
*Pastis
Pastis (; oc, Pastís, ; or ) is an anise-flavoured spirit and apéritif traditionally from France, typically containing less than 100 g/L sugar and 40–45% ABV (alcohol by volume).
Origins
Pastis was first commercialized by Paul Ricard in ...
is an alcoholic beverage made with anise
Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to Eurasia.
The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, such as star anise, fennel, licorice, and ta ...
ed and spice. It is extremely popular in the region.
*Pieds paquets
Pieds paquets or pied et paquets (literally, ''feet packet'' or ''feet and packages'' in French) is a local dish and culinary specialty of Marseille and Sisteron but also commonly found in much of Southeastern France. It consists of sheep's feet an ...
is a dish prepared from sheep's feet and offal.
*Pistou
Pistou ( Provençal: ''pisto'' (classical) or ''pistou'' (Mistralian), ), or pistou sauce, is a Provençal cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil. It is somewhat similar to the Ligurian sauce pesto, although it lacks pi ...
is a combination of crushed fresh basil and garlic with olive oil, similar to the Italian pesto
Pesto () is a sauce that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (also known as Parmesan cheese) or Pecorino Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), al ...
. The "soupe au pistou" combines pistou in a broth with pasta and vegetables.[
*]Tapenade
Tapenade (; oc, tapenada ) is a Provençal name for a spread, condiment and culinary ingredient consisting of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, and anchovies. Its name comes from the Provençal word for capers, ''tapenas'' (). It is a ...
is a paste made from chopped olives, capers, and olive oil (sometimes anchovies may be added).
Films set in Marseille
Marseille has been the setting for many films.
Main sights
Marseille is listed as a major centre of art and history. The city has many museums and galleries and there are many ancient buildings and churches of historical interest.
Central Marseille
Most of the attractions of Marseille (including shopping areas) are located in the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th arrondissements. These include:
* The Old Port or Vieux-Port, the main harbour and marina of the city. It is guarded by two massive forts (Fort Saint-Nicolas and Fort Saint-Jean) and is one of the main places to eat in the city. Dozens of cafés line the waterfront. The Quai des Belges at the end of the harbour is the site of the daily fish market. Much of the northern quayside area was rebuilt by the architect Fernand Pouillon after its destruction by the Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s in 1943.
* The Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), a baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
building dating from the 17th century.
* The Centre Bourse and the adjacent Rue St Ferreol district (including Rue de Rome and Rue Paradis), the main shopping area in central Marseille.
*The Porte d'Aix
Porte d'Aix (also known as the Porte Royale) is a triumphal arch in Marseille, in the south of France, marking the old entry point to the city on the road from Aix-en-Provence. The classical design by Michel-Robert Penchaud was inspired by the tr ...
, a triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...
commemorating French victories in the Spanish Expedition.
* The Hôtel-Dieu, a former hospital in ''Le Panier'', transformed into an InterContinental
Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent.
Intercontinental may also refer to:
* Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile
* InterContinental Hotels Group (IH ...
hotel in 2013.
* La Vieille Charité
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
in ''Le Panier'', an architecturally significant building designed by the Puget brothers. The central baroque chapel is situated in a courtyard lined with arcaded galleries. Originally built as an alms house
An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...
, it is now home to an archeological museum and a gallery of African and Asian art, as well as bookshops and a café. It also houses the Marseille International Poetry Centre.
* The Cathedral of Sainte-Marie-Majeure or La Major, founded in the fourth century, enlarged in the 11th century and completely rebuilt in the second half of the 19th century by the architects Léon Vaudoyer
Léon Vaudoyer () (7 June 1803 – 9 February 1872) was a French architect.
Biography
Vaudoyer was born in Paris, the son of architect Antoine Vaudoyer.
He was one of the "romantic" Beaux-Arts architects influenced by Saint-Simon and August ...
and Henri-Jacques Espérandieu
Henri-Jacques Espérandieu (22 February 1829 – 11 November 1874) was an architect who made his career in Marseille, France. He was responsible for some of the most famous buildings of the city, including the "Bonne mère", Notre-Dame de la Garde. ...
. The present day cathedral is a gigantic edifice in Romano-Byzantine style. A romanesque transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
, choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
and altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
survive from the older medieval cathedral, spared from complete destruction only as a result of public protests at the time.
* The 12th-century parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
of Saint-Laurent and adjoining 17th-century chapel of Sainte-Catherine, on the quayside near the cathedral.
* The Abbey of Saint-Victor, one of the oldest places of Christian worship
In Christianity, worship is the act of attributing reverent honour and homage to God. In the New Testament, various words are used to refer to the term worship. One is ("to worship") which means to bow down to God or kings.
Throughout most ...
in Europe. Its fifth-century crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
and catacombs
Catacombs are man-made subterranean passageways for religious practice. Any chamber used as a burial place is a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
Etymology and history
The first place to be referred ...
occupy the site of a Hellenic burial ground, later used for Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
martyrs and venerated ever since. Continuing a medieval tradition, every year at Candlemas
Candlemas (also spelled Candlemass), also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or the Feast of the Holy Encounter, is a Christian holiday commemorating the presentati ...
a Black Madonna
The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Black Madonna can be found both ...
from the crypt is carried in procession along Rue Sainte for a blessing from the archbishop, followed by a mass and the distribution of "navettes" and green votive candle
A votive candle or prayer candle is a small candle, typically white or beeswax yellow, intended to be burnt as a votive offering in an act of Christian prayer, especially within the Anglican, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Christian denominations, ...
s.
Museums
In addition to the two in the Centre de la Vieille Charité, described above, the main museums are:
* The Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée
The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem; French: ''Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée'') is a national museum located in Marseille, France. It was inaugurated on 7 June 2013 as part of Marseille-Prove ...
(MuCEM) and the Villa Méditerranée were inaugurated in 2013. The MuCEM is devoted to the history and culture of European and Mediterranean civilisations. The adjacent Villa Méditerranée, an international centre for cultural and artistic interchange, is partially constructed underwater. The site is linked by footbridges to the Fort Saint-Jean and to the Panier.
* The Musée Regards de Provence, opened in 2013, is located between the Cathedral of Notre Dame de la Majeur and the Fort Saint-Jean. It occupies a converted port building constructed in 1945 to monitor and control potential sea-borne health hazards, in particular epidemics. It now houses a permanent collection of historical artworks from Provence as well as temporary exhibitions.
* The Musée du Vieux Marseille, housed in the 16th-century Maison Diamantée, describing everyday life in Marseille from the 18th century onwards.
* The Musée des Docks Romains preserves in situ the remains of Roman commercial warehouses, and has a small collection of objects, dating from the Greek period to the Middle Ages, that were uncovered on the site or retrieved from shipwrecks.
* The Marseille History Museum
The Marseille History Museum (French: ''Musée d'Histoire de Marseille'') is the local historical and archaeological museum of Marseille in France. When opened in 1983, it became one of the most significant museums for urban history in France, de ...
(Musée d'Histoire de Marseille), devoted to the history of the town, located in the Centre Bourse. It contains remains of the Greek, and Roman history of Marseille as well as the best preserved hull of a sixth-century boat in the world. Ancient remains from the Hellenic port are displayed in the adjacent archeological gardens, the ''Jardin des Vestiges
The ''Jardin des Vestiges'' is a garden containing the archaeological remains of the ancient port of Marseille, France.
The site is located in the 1st arrondissement, behind the shopping arcade in the Centre Bourse. Classified as a French histori ...
''.
* The Musée Cantini
The Musée Cantini is a museum in Marseilles that has been open to the public since 1936. The museum specializes in modern art, especially paintings from the first half of the twentieth century.
The building
The musée Cantini building was bui ...
, a museum of modern art near the Palais de Justice. It houses artworks associated with Marseille as well as several works by Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
.
* The Musée Grobet-Labadié
The Musée Grobet-Labadié is a museum in Marseilles, housed in a 19th-century hôtel particulier
An ''hôtel particulier'' () is a grand townhouse, comparable to the British townhouse or mansion. Whereas an ordinary ''maison'' (house) was bu ...
, opposite the Palais Longchamp, houses an exceptional collection of European objets d'art
In art history, the French term Objet d’art describes an ornamental work of art, and the term Objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish th ...
and old musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...
s.
* The 19th-century Palais Longchamp
The Palais Longchamp is a monument in the 4th arrondissement of Marseille, France. It houses the Musée des beaux-arts and Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille. The surrounding Longchamp Park (French: ''Parc Longchamp'') is listed by the Fr ...
, designed by Esperandieu, is located in the Parc Longchamp. Built on a grand scale, this italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
d building rises up behind a vast monumental fountain with cascading waterfalls. The jeux d'eau
''Jeux d'eau'' (Italian ''giochi d'acqua'') or "water games", is an umbrella term in the history of gardens for the water features that were introduced into mid-16th century Mannerist Italian gardens.
History
Pools and fountains had been a fe ...
marks and masks the entry point of the Canal de Provence into Marseille. Its two wings house the Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille
The Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille is one of the main museums in the city of Marseille, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.
It occupies a wing of the Palais Longchamp, and displays a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from ...
(a fine arts museum), and the Natural History Museum
A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...
(Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille).
* The Château Borély
The Château Borély is a chateau in the southern part of Marseille, France. Associated with Borély park and Marseille Borély golf course, it has been listed as a historical monument since 1936, and has housed the Museum of Decorative Arts, Earth ...
is located in the Parc Borély
Parc Borély is a public municipal park in the city of Marseille, France. It is classified by the Ministry of Culture as one of the Remarkable Gardens of France. The park is 17 hectares in size. It adjoins the Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel.
Des ...
, a park off the Bay of Marseille with the Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel
The Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel (12,000 m2), also known as the Jardin botanique de Marseille and the Jardin botanique Borély de Marseille, is a municipal botanical garden in the Parc Borély at 48, Avenue Clot Bey, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, ...
, a botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
. The Museum of the Decorative Arts, Fashion and Ceramics
The Museum of the Decorative Arts, Fashion and Ceramics (French: ''Musée des Arts décoratifs, de la Faïence et de la Mode'') is a French museum opened to the public on 15 June 2013 in Château Borély. It is located at 134, Avenue Clot-Bey, Mars ...
opened in the renovated château in June 2013.
* The (MAC), a museum of contemporary art, opened in 1994. It is devoted to American and European art
The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of art, history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock art, rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the ...
from the 1960s to the present day.
* The in Château-Gombert, devoted to Provençal crafts and traditions.
File:Mucem-Villa-de-la-Mediterannee-Marseille.jpg, The MuCEM, Musée Regards de Provence and Villa Mediterannée, with Notre Dame de la Majeur on the right
File:Maison Diamantée (3x2 crop).jpg, The sixteenth century Maison Diamantée which houses the Musée du Vieux Marseille
File:Salon-de-musique-Grobet-Labadié.jpg, The music room in the Grobet-Labadié museum
File:Marseille Palais Longchamp a3x2.JPG, The Palais Longchamp
The Palais Longchamp is a monument in the 4th arrondissement of Marseille, France. It houses the Musée des beaux-arts and Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille. The surrounding Longchamp Park (French: ''Parc Longchamp'') is listed by the Fr ...
with its monumental fountain
Outside central Marseille
The main attractions outside the city centre include:[
* The 19th-century Basilica of ]Notre-Dame de la Garde
Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally: Our Lady of the Guard), known to local citizens as ''la Bonne Mère'' (French for 'the Good Mother'), is a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France, and the city's best-known symbol. The site of a popular Assump ...
, an enormous Romano-Byzantine basilica built by architect Espérandieu in the hills to the south of the Old Port. The terrace offers views of Marseille and its surroundings.
* The Stade Vélodrome
The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...
, the home stadium of the city's main football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team, Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...
.
* The Unité d'Habitation
{{Infobox company
, name = Moldtelecom
, logo =
, type = JSC
, foundation = 1 April 1993
, location = Chişinău, Moldova
, key_people = Alexandru Ciubuc CEO interim
, num_employees = 2,750 employees As of 2019
, industry = Telecommunica ...
, an influential and iconic modernist building designed by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
in 1952. On the third floor is the gastronomic restaurant, Le Ventre de l'Architecte. On the roof is the contemporary gallery MaMo opened in 2013.
* The Docks de Marseille
Les Docks de Marseille is a historical building in the heart of La Joliette, a business district in Marseille, France. The building is home to 220 companies employing some 3,500 people. Various corporate headquarters, regional branches, restaur ...
, a 19th-century warehouse transformed into offices.
* The Pharo Gardens, a park with views of the Mediterranean and the Old Port.
* The Corniche, a waterfront road between the Old Port and the Bay of Marseille.
* The beaches at the Prado, Pointe Rouge, Les Goudes, Callelongue and Le Prophète.
* The Calanques, a mountainous coastal area, is home to Calanques National Park
Calanques National Park (French language, French: ''Parc national des Calanques'') is a List of national parks of France, French national park located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in Bouches-du-Rhône, Southern France. It was est ...
which became France's tenth national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
in 2012.
* The islands of the Frioul archipelago
The Frioul archipelago is a group of four islands located off the Mediterranean coast of France, approximately from Marseille. The islands of the archipelago cover a total land area of approximately 200 hectares. According to the 2015 cens ...
in the Bay of Marseille, accessible by ferry from the Old Port. The prison of Château d'If
The Château d'If () is a fortress located on the Île d'If, the smallest island in the Frioul archipelago, situated about offshore from Marseille in southeastern France. Built in the 16th century, it later served as a prison until the end o ...
was one of the settings for The Count of Monte Cristo
''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...
, the novel by Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer ...
. The neighbouring islands of Ratonneau and Pomègues are joined by a man-made breakwater
Breakwater may refer to:
* Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour
Places
* Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia
* Breakwater Island
Breakwater Island () is a small island in the Palme ...
. The site of a former garrison and quarantine hospital, these islands are also of interest for their marine wildlife.
Education
A number of the faculties of the three universities that comprise Aix-Marseille University
Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II o ...
are located in Marseille:
*Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I
The University of Provence Aix-Marseille I (french: Université de Provence) was a public research university mostly located in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. It was one of the three Universities of Aix-Marseille and was part of the Academy of ...
*Université de la Méditerranée Aix-Marseille II
The University of the Mediterranean Aix-Marseille II was a French university in the Academy of Aix and Marseille. Historically, it was part of the University of Aix-Marseille based across the communes of Aix-en-Provence and Marseille in southe ...
* Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III
In addition Marseille has four ''grandes écoles'':
* Ecole Centrale de Marseille part of Centrale Graduate School
The Ecoles Centrales Group is an alliance, consisting of following grandes écoles of engineering:
* CentraleSupélec (formed by merger of École Centrale Paris and Supélec) established in 2015
* École centrale de Lille established in 1854
* ...
*École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies
The Paris Graduate School of Digital Innovation (french: École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies, or EPITECH), formerly European Institute of Information Technology, is a private institution of higher education in computer scien ...
*Institut polytechnique des sciences avancées
The Institut Polytechnique des Sciences Avancées (IPSA), ( en, Institute of Polytechnic Science and Aeronautics) is a French private ''grande école'' in aerospace engineering located at Ivry-sur-Seine, Lyon and Toulouse, recognized by the Frenc ...
*KEDGE Business School
KEDGE Business School is a Triple accreditation, triple accredited (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, AACSB, EFMD Quality Improvement System, EQUIS and Association of MBAs, AMBA) French business school and Grandes écoles, gr ...
The main French research bodies including the CNRS
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...
, INSERM and INRA are all well represented in Marseille. Scientific research is concentrated at several sites across the city, including Luminy, where there are institutes in developmental biology (the IBDML), immunology (CIML
The Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CIML) was founded in 1976 and has been described by AERES, an independent evaluation agency, as "without doubt one of the best immunology centers of excellence in Europe". The CIML addresses all ar ...
), marine sciences and neurobiology (INMED), at the CNRS Joseph Aiguier campus (a world-renowned institute of molecular and environmental microbiology) and at the Timone hospital site (known for work in medical microbiology). Marseille is also home to the headquarters of the IRD IRD or Ird may refer to the following:
* Ird (Bedouin), a Bedouin honor code for women
* Ird, alternate name of Arad, Iran, a city in Fars Province
* Ishwardi Airport (IATA airport code)
* Kaarel Ird (1909–1986), Estonian theatre leader, director ...
, which promotes research into questions affecting developing countries.
Transport
International and regional transport
The city is served by an international airport, Marseille Provence Airport
Marseille Provence Airport () is an international airport located 27 km (17 miles) northwest of Marseille, on the territory of Marignane, both ''communes'' of the Bouches-du-Rhône ''département'' in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur '' r ...
, located in Marignane. The airport is the fifth busiest French airport, and known the fourth most important European traffic growth in 2012. An extensive network of motorways connects Marseille to the north and west ( A7), Aix-en-Provence in the north ( A51), Toulon ( A50) and 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 ...
( A8) to the east.
Gare de Marseille Saint-Charles is Marseille's main railway station. It operates direct regional services to Aix-en-Provence, Briançon
Briançon (, ) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hautes-Alpes Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is the highest city in France at an a ...
, Toulon, Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
, Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, Montpellier
Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...
, Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
, Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
, Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, etc. Gare Saint-Charles is also one of the main terminal stations for the TGV
The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...
in the south of France making Marseille reachable in three hours from Paris (a distance of over 750 km) and just over one and a half hours from Lyon. There are also direct TGV lines to Lille
Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...
, Brussels, Nantes, Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
and Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
as well as Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
services to London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
(just in the summer) and Thello services to Milan (just one a day), via Nice and Genoa.
There is a new long-distance bus station adjacent to new modern extension to the Gare Saint-Charles with destinations mostly to other 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 ...
towns, including buses to Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
, Cassis, La Ciotat
La Ciotat (; oc, label= Provençal Occitan, La Ciutat ; in Mistralian spelling ''La Ciéutat''; 'the City') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. It is the southeasternmo ...
and Aubagne
Aubagne (, ''Aubanha'' in Occitan language, Occitan according to the classic norm or ''Aubagno'' according to the Mistralian norm) is a Commune in France, commune in the southern French Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône. In ...
. The city is also served with 11 other regional trains stations in the east and the north of the city, including Marseille-Blancarde.
Marseille has a large ferry terminal
A passenger terminal is a structure in a port which services passengers boarding and leaving water vessels such as ferries, cruise ships and ocean liners. Depending on the types of vessels serviced by the terminal, it may be named (for example) ...
, the ''Gare Maritime'', with services to
Corsica
Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
, Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
, Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
and Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
.
Public transport
Marseille is connected by the Marseille Métro train system operated by the ''Régie des transports de Marseille
The Marseille Metro (french: Métro de Marseille) is a rapid transit system serving Marseille, in Southern France. As of 2020, the system comprises two lines, partly underground, serving 31 stations, with an overall route length of . Line 1 open ...
'' (RTM). It consists of two lines: Line 1 (blue) between Castellane and La Rose opened in 1977 and Line 2 (red) between Sainte-Marguerite-Dromel and Bougainville opened between 1984 and 1987. An extension of the Line 1 from Castellane to La Timone was completed in 1992, another extension from La Timone to La Fourragère ( and 4 new stations) was opened in May 2010. The Métro system operates on a turnstile system, with tickets purchased at the nearby adjacent automated booths. Both lines of the Métro intersect at Gare Saint-Charles and Castellane. Three bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
lines are under construction to better connect the Métro to farther places (Castellane -> Luminy; Capitaine Gèze – La Cabucelle -> Vallon des Tuves; La Rose -> Château Gombert – Saint Jérôme).
An extensive bus network
A bus network is a network topology in which nodes are directly connected to a common half-duplex link called a bus.
A host on a bus network is called a ''station''. In a bus network, every station will receive all network traffic, and the tr ...
serves the city and suburbs of Marseille, with 104 lines and 633 buses. The three lines of the tramway, opened in 2007, go from the CMA CGM Tower
The CMA CGM Tower is a 147 m tall skyscraper in Euroméditerranée, the central business district of Marseille, France. Designed by Zaha Hadid, it is the headquarters for CMA CGM, a major shipping firm, hosting 2,200 employees previously ...
towards Les Caillols.
As in many other French cities, a bike-sharing service nicknamed "Le vélo", free for trips of less than half an hour, was introduced by the city council in 2007.
A free ferry service operates between the two opposite quays of the Old Port. From 2011 ferry shuttle services operate between the Old Port and Pointe Rouge; in spring 2013 it will also run to l'Estaque. There are also ferry services and boat trips available from the Old Port to Frioul
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giulia ...
, the Calanques
A calanque (, "inlet"; co, calanca, plural ''calanche'' or ''calanchi''; oc, calanca, plural ''calancas'') is a narrow, steep-walled inlet that is developed in limestone, dolomite, or other carbonate strata and found along the Mediterranean c ...
and Cassis.
Sport
The city boasts a wide variety of sports facilities and teams. The most popular team is the city's football club
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...
, Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille (, ; oc, Olimpic de Marselha, ), also known simply as Marseille or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional men's football club based in Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Founded in 1899, the club pl ...
, which was the finalist of the UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
in 1991, before winning the competition in 1993, the only French club to do so as of 2022. The club also became finalists of the UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
in 1999, 2004 and 2018. The club had a history of success under then-owner Bernard Tapie
Bernard Roger Tapie (; 26 January 1943 – 3 October 2021) was a French businessman, politician and occasional actor, singer, and TV host. He was Minister of City Affairs in the government of Pierre Bérégovoy.
Life and career
Tapie was bor ...
. The club's home, the Stade Vélodrome
The Stade Vélodrome (; oc, Estadi Velodròm, ), known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, ...
, which can seat around 67,000 people, also functions for other local sports, as well as the national rugby team. Stade Velodrome hosted a number of games during the 1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...
, 2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...
, and UEFA Euro 2016
The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...
. The local rugby teams are Marseille XIII
Marseille XIII was a French rugby league club from the city of Marseille.
History
Marseille XIII were founded in 1946. The club has only won the French Championship once, in 1949. They have however lost three finals, in 1950, 1952 and 1973. Desp ...
and Marseille Vitrolles Rugby
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 France ...
.
Marseille is famous for its important pétanque
Pétanque (, ; oc, petanca, , also or ) is a sport that falls into the category of boules sports, along with raffa, bocce, boule lyonnaise, lawn bowls, and crown green bowling. In all of these sports, players or teams play their boules/balls ...
activity, it is even renowned as the ''pétanque capitale''. In 2012 Marseille hosted the Pétanque World Championship and the city hosts every year the Mondial la Marseillaise de pétanque
Mondial may refer to:
* Mondial (amusement ride manufacturer)
* Mondial (motorcycle manufacturer)
* Mondial House
* Mondial (company), a Brazilian electronics company
* Mondial language, an international auxiliary language
* Ferrari Mondial
The ...
, the main pétanque competition.
Sailing is a major sport in Marseille. The wind conditions allow regattas in the warm waters of the Mediterranean. Throughout most seasons of the year it can be windy while the sea remains smooth enough to allow sailing. Marseille has been the host of 8 (2010) Match Race France events which are part of the World Match Racing Tour
Founded in 2000, the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) features world class sailors including America’s Cup and Olympic champions, in a global championship series. WMRT is sanctioned with ‘Special Event Status’ by World Sailing, the sport ...
. The event draws the world's best sailing teams to Marseille. The identical supplied boats (J Boats J-80 racing yachts) are raced two at a time in an on the water dogfight which tests the sailors and skippers to the limits of their physical abilities.
Points accrued count towards the World Match Racing Tour and a place in the final event, with the overall winner taking the title ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion. Match racing is an ideal sport for spectators in Marseille, as racing in close proximity to the shore provides excellent views. The city was also considered as a possible venue for 2007 America's Cup
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...
.
CN Marseille The Cercle des nageurs de Marseille (Circle of Marseille's swimmers) is an elite swim club based in Marseille, France, founded in 1921. It is best known for its water polo team which is the most decorated in France, and also for training many of the ...
has traditionally been one of France's dominant Water polo
Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...
teams as it won the Championnat de France The French Rugby League Championship is the major rugby league tournament for French professional and semi-professional clubs.
French Championships or French Championship may also refer to:
French national championships
* Division 1 Féminine ...
a total of 36 times.
Marseille is also a place for other water sports
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a s ...
such as windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
and powerboating
Power boating describes activities performed in a motorized boat. Generally, a power boat has a high power-to-weight ratio and a hull design that allows for easy planing, which allows for higher speed and improved handling. Also, the shape of ...
. Marseille has three golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
s. The city has dozens of gyms and several public swimming pools. Running is also popular in many of Marseille's parks such as Le Pharo and Le Jardin Pierre Puget. An annual footrace is held between the city and neighbouring Cassis: the Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale
The Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale is an annual half marathon which follows a course from Marseille to Cassis in France during the last weekend in October. It has the silver label of the IAAF Road Race Label Events and is thus among the ...
.
Notable people
Marseille was the birthplace of:
*Pytheas
Pytheas of Massalia (; Ancient Greek: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéas ho Massaliōtēs''; Latin: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born 350 BC, 320–306 BC) was a Greeks, Greek List of Graeco-Roman geographers, geographer, explor ...
(fl. fourth century BC), Greek merchant, geographer and explorer
*Petronius
Gaius Petronius Arbiter["Gaius Petronius Arbiter"]
Pierre Demours
Pierre Demours (1702 – June 26, 1795) was a French physician, zoologist and translator.
Biography
Demours was born in Marseille; his father was a pharmacist. He is not to be confused with his son, Antoine-Pierre Demours (1762–1836), also a ...
(17021795), physician
*Pierre Blancard
Pierre Blancard (born 21 April 1741 in Marseille – deceased 16 March 1826 in Aubagne) was a French navy officer, botanist and explorer. He was the first to import Chinese chrysanthemum in France.
Life
After being promoted to the rank of capta ...
(1741-1826), introduced the chrysanthemum to France
*Jean-Henri Gourgaud
Jean-Henri Gourgaud (15 November 1746 – 19 October 1809) was a French actor under the stage name Dugazon, the son of Pierre-Antoine Gourgaud, the director of military hospitals there and also an actor.
He began his career in the provinces, ma ...
, aka. "Dugazon" (17461809), actor
*Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès
Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès (; 24 June 176713 June 1846) was a French geographer, author and translator, best remembered in the English speaking world for his translation of German ghost stories ''Fantasmagoriana'', published anonymously in 18 ...
(17671846), geographer, author and translator
*Désirée Clary
Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary ( sv, Eugenia Bernhardina Desideria; 8 November 1777 – 17 December 1860) was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 5 February 1818 to 8 March 1844 as the wife of King Charles XIV John. Charles John was a former Fre ...
(17771860), wife of King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden, and therefore ''Queen Desirée'' or ''Queen Desideria of Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
''
*Sabin Berthelot
Sabin Berthelot (4 April 1794 – 10 November 1880) was a French naturalist and ethnologist. He was resident on the Canary Islands for part of his life, and co-authored ''L'Histoire Naturelle des Îles Canaries'' (1835–50) with Philip Barker We ...
(17941880), naturalist and ethnologist
*Adolphe Thiers
Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic.
Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...
(17971877), first president of the Third Republic
* Étienne Joseph Louis Garnier-Pages (18011841), politician
*Honoré Daumier
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808February 10, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the Revolution of 1830 to the fall of the second N ...
(18081879), caricaturist
A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures.
List of caricaturists
* Abed Abdi (born 1942)
* Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003)
* Alex Gard (1900–1948)
* Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977)
* Alfred Grévin (1827–1892)
* Alf ...
and painter
*Joseph Autran
Joseph Autran (20 June 1813 – 6 March 1877) was a French poet.
Biography
Autran was born in Marseille. In 1832 he addressed an ode to Alphonse de Lamartine, who was then at Marseille on his way to the East. Lamartine persuaded the young man's f ...
(18131877), poet
*Candice Clot
Eths (variably stylized as eths and ETHS) is a French extreme metal band from Marseille.
History
Eths formed in 1996 under the name What's the fuck, with a lineup consisting of vocalist–guitarist Stéphane Bihl and guitarist Grégory ...
(1981), vocalist
* Charles-Joseph-Eugene de Mazenod (17821861), bishop of Marseille
The Archdiocese of Marseille (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Massiliensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Marseille'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France.[Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...]
.
*Lucien Petipa
Lucien Petipa (December 22, 1815 – July 7, 1898) was a French ballet dancer in the early 19th century ( Romantic period), who was the brother of Marius Petipa, the famous ballet master of the Russian Imperial Ballet. He was born in Marseilles a ...
(18151898), ballet dancer
*Joseph Mascarel
Jose Mascarel (April 18, 1816 – October 6, 1899) was a 19th−century sea captain, California landowner, investor, baker, and vintner; and a mayor of Los Angeles, California.
Personal
Birth and death
Mascarel was born in Marseilles or Ment ...
(18161899), mayor of Los Angeles
*Marius Petipa
Marius Ivanovich Petipa (russian: Мариус Иванович Петипа), born Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa (11 March 1818), was a French ballet dancer, pedagogue and choreographer. Petipa is one of the most influential ballet masters an ...
(18181910), ballet dancer and choreographer
*Ernest Reyer
Louis Étienne Ernest Reyer (1 December 1823 – 15 January 1909) was a French opera composer and music critic.
Biography
Ernest Reyer was born in Marseille. His father, a notary, did not want his son to take up a career in music. However, he d ...
(18231909), opera composer and music critic
* Olivier Émile Ollivier (18251913), statesman
*Victor Maurel
Victor Maurel (17 June 184822 October 1923) was a French operatic baritone who enjoyed an international reputation as a great singing actor.
Biography
Maurel was born in Marseille. Educated in music and stagecraft at the Paris Conservatory, ...
(18481923), operatic baritone
* Joseph Pujol, aka. "Le Pétomane
Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 – August 8, 1945), better known by his stage name Le Pétomane (, ), was a French flatulist (professional farter) and entertainer. He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him t ...
" (18571945), entertainer
*Charles Fabry
Maurice Paul Auguste Charles Fabry (; 11 June 1867 – 11 December 1945) was a French physicist.
Life
Fabry graduated from the École Polytechnique in Paris and received his doctorate from the University of Paris in 1892, for his work on i ...
(18671945), physicist
*Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with t ...
(18681918), poet and dramatist
*Pavlos Melas
Pavlos Melas ( el, Παύλος Μελάς, ''Pávlos Melás''; March 29, 1870 – October 13, 1904) was a Greek revolutionary and artillery officer of the Hellenic Army. He participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and was amongst the first ...
(18701904), Greek army officer
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contextu ...
*Louis Nattero
Louis Alexandre Marie Nattero (16 October 1870 – 10 November 1915 in Marseilles) was a French painter. He was known for his sea and port pictures and depictions of local street scenes and children. He also painted the Port of Toulon
Tou ...
, (18701915), painter
*Vincent Scotto
Vincent Scotto (21 April 1874 – 15 November 1952) was a French composer.
Biography
Early life
Vincent Scotto was born on 21 April 1874 in Marseille to Pasquale Scotto d'Aniello and Antonia Intartaglia, from the island of Procida, north of th ...
(18761952), guitarist, songwriter
*Charles Camoin
Charles Camoin (; 23 September 1879 – 20 May 1965) was a French expressionist landscape painter associated with the Fauves.
''Les Fauves: A Sourcebook'', by Russell T. Clement,
p. 2, web:
-->&lpg=PA2 Google Books
Born in Marseille, Franc ...
(18791965), fauvist painter
*Henri Fabre
Henri Fabre (29 November 1882 – 30 June 1984) was a French aviator and the inventor of the first successful seaplane, the Fabre Hydravion.
Henri Fabre was born into a prominent family of shipowners in the city of Marseille. He was educated ...
(18821984), aviator and inventor of the first seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
*Frédéric Mariotti
Frédéric Mariotti (1 April 1883 – 22 February 1971) was a French stage and film actor whose career spanned more than four decades through the early silent film era into the early 1950s.
Biography
Frédéric Mariotti was born in Marseille an ...
(18831971), actor
*Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...
(18921974), composer and teacher
*Berty Albrecht
Berty Albrecht (15 February 1893 – 31 May 1943) was a French feminist and Resistance martyr.
Life
Albrecht was born Berthe Wild in Marseilles on 15 February 1893 to a middle-class Protestant family. She married the Dutch banker Frédéric Alb ...
(18931943), French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
, Croix de Guerre
The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...
*Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...
(18971948), author
*Henri Tomasi
Henri Tomasi (; 17 August 1901 – 13 January 1971) was a French classical composer and conductor. He was noted for compositions such as ''In Praise of Folly'', ''Nuclear Era'' and ''The Silence of the Sea''.
Early years
Henri Tomasi was bor ...
(19011971), composer and conductor
*Zino Francescatti René-Charles "Zino" Francescatti (August 9, 1902 – September 17, 1991) was a French virtuoso violinist.
Zino Francescatti was born in Marseilles, to a musical family. Both parents were violinists. His father, who also played the cello, had stu ...
(19021991), violinist
*Fernandel
Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (8 May 1903 – 26 February 1971), better known as Fernandel, was a French actor and singer. Born near Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, an Occitan to ...
(19031971), actor
*Marie-Madeleine Fourcade
Marie-Madeleine Fourcade (11 August 1909 – 20 July 1989) was the leader of the French Resistance network "Alliance", under the code name "Hérisson" ("Hedgehog") after the arrest of its former leader, Georges Loustaunau-Lacau (“Navarre”), du ...
(19091989), French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
, Commander 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 ...
* Éliane Browne-Bartroli (Eliane Plewman, 19171944), French Resistance, Croix de Guerre
*César Baldaccini
César (born Cesare Baldaccini; 1 January 1921 – 6 December 1998), also occasionally referred to as César Baldaccini (), was a noted French sculptor.
César was at the forefront of the Nouveau Réalisme movement with his radical compressio ...
(19211998), sculptor
*Louis Jourdan
Louis Jourdan (born Louis Robert Gendre; 19 June 1921 – 14 February 2015) was a French film and television actor. He was known for his suave roles in several Hollywood films, including Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Paradine Case'' (1947), '' Lette ...
(19212015), actor
*Jean-Pierre Rampal
Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal (7 January 1922 – 20 May 2000) was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th century."
Biography
Ea ...
(19222000), flautist
*Alice Colonieu
Alice Victorine Antoinette Colonieu (5 November 1924 – 16 July 2010) was a French ceramicist, painter and sculptor.
Biography
From an old family from Vaucluse, Alice Colonieu was born in Marseille, the daughter of Albert, a SNCF contr ...
, (19242010), ceramist
*Paul Mauriat
Paul Julien André Mauriat ( or ; 4 March 1925 – 3 November 2006) was a French orchestra leader, conductor of Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, who specialized in the easy listening genre. He is best known in the United States for his milli ...
(19252006), orchestra leader, composer
*Maurice Béjart
Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, talking vast th ...
(19272007), ballet choreographer
*Régine Crespin
Régine Crespin (23 February 1927 – 5 July 2007) was a French singer who had a major international career in opera and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano and spinto soprano ...
(19272007), opera singer
*Ginette Garcin
Ginette Garcin (4 January 1928 – 10 June 2010) was a French actress of stage, film and television.
Biography
She lived in Audresselles, Pas-de-Calais. Ginette Garcin made her musical debut with Jacques Hélian and his orchestra in 1946. She t ...
(1928–2010), actor
* André di Fusco (19322001), known as André Pascal
André Pascal (1932–2001), born André Pascal Nicolas di Fusco in Marseille, was a French songwriter and composer.
History
As an adolescent he was already well versed in French poetry from François Villon to Alfred de Vigny. He could express ...
, songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
, composer
*Henry de Lumley
Henry de Lumley (born 1934 in Marseille) is a French archeologist, geologist and prehistorian. He is director of the Institute of Human Paleontology in Paris, and Professor Emeritus at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. He is also a corres ...
(born 1934), archaeologist
*Sacha Sosno
Alexandre Joseph Sosnowsky (1937 – 3 December 2013), better known by the name Sacha Sosno, was an internationally renowned French sculptor and painter. Working most of the time in Nice, in his last decades Sosno achieved international recognit ...
(19372013), sculptor
*Jean-Pierre Ricard
Jean-Pierre Ricard (born 26 September 1944) is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Bordeaux from 2001 to 2019. He has been a cardinal since 2006. He was previously Bishop of Montpellier for five years and before that a ...
(born 1944), cardinal, archbishop of Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
*Georges Chappe
Georges Chappe (born 5 March 1944) is a retired cyclist from France, who was nicknamed ''Jojo'' during his professional career. He was a professional from 1965 to 1975. In 1970 he won the Critérium International. In 1968, Chappe won a stage in ...
(born 1944), cyclist
*Jean-Claude Izzo
Jean-Claude Izzo (Marseille 20 June 1945 – Marseille 26 January 2000) was a French poet, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist who achieved sudden fame in the mid-1990s with the publication of his three neo-noir crime novels ''Total Chaos'', ...
(19452000), author
*Denis Ranque
Denis Ranque (born 7 January 1952 in Marseille) is a French engineer and businessman who served as CEO and chairman of Thales Group from 1998 until 2009.
Career
In 1976, Denis Ranque began his career as an engineer of the Corps des mines at the M ...
(born 1952), businessman
*Ariane Ascaride
Ariane Ascaride (born 10 October 1954) is a French actress and screenwriter. She has appeared in films such as '' Marius et Jeannette'' (''Marius and Jeannette''), '' Ma vraie vie à Rouen'' (''The True Story of My Life in Rouen''; USA, ''My Lif ...
(born 1954), actress
*Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi
Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi (born 24 October 1961 in Marseille) is a French slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1979 to 1996.
Career
Competing in two Summer Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the K1 event i ...
(born 1961), world champion slalom canoer
*Eric Cantona
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...
(born 1966), Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
and French national team football player
*Patrick Fiori
Patrick Fiori (; born Patrick Jean-François Chouchayan, 23 September 1969) is a French singer of Armenian descent.
Biography Beginnings
Fiori was born to a French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsican mother (Marie Antoinette Fi ...
(born 1969), singer
*Marc Panther
A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe of ...
(born 1970), member of the popular Japanese rock
, sometimes abbreviated to , is rock music from Japan. Influenced by American and British rock of the 1960s, the first rock bands in Japan performed what is called Group Sounds, with lyrics almost exclusively in English. Folk rock band Happy End ...
band Globe
A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe ...
*Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Yazid Zidane (; born 23 June 1972), popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He most recently coached Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most ...
(born 1972), professional football player and former captain of the France national football team
The France national football team (french: Équipe de France de football) represents France in men's international football matches. It is governed by the French Football Federation (FFF; ), the governing body for football in France. It is a ...
*Romain Barnier
Romain Barnier (born 10 May 1976 in Marseille) is a freestyle swimmer from France, who won the bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at the European Short Course Swimming Championships 2001. He competed in two consecutive Summer Olympics for h ...
(born 1976), freestyle swimmer
*Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean (; born 29 May 1978) is a French former professional tennis player. Grosjean reached the semifinals at the 2001 Australian and French Opens, and at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004. He finished eight consecutive seasons rank ...
(born 1978), tennis player
* Philippe Echaroux (born 1983), photographer
*Mathieu Flamini
Mathieu Pierre Flamini (born 7 March 1984) is a French former professional footballer and environmental entrepreneur. A midfielder, he has played for French side Marseille, English sides Arsenal and Crystal Palace, Italian side Milan and Spanish ...
(born 1984), football player
*Rémy Di Gregorio
Rémy Di Gregorio (born 31 July 1985) is a French road bicycle racer, who is currently suspended from the sport following a positive in-competition doping test for darbepoetin alfa, a re-engineered form of erythropoietin (EPO). He has previous ...
(born 1985), cyclist
* Jessica Fox (born 1994), French-born Australian slalom canoer
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Marseille is twinned with 14 cities, all of them being port cities, with the exception of Marrakech.
* Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
, Ivory Coast (1958)
* Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , Belgium (1958)
* Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Denmark (1958)
* Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
, Senegal (1968)
* Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, Italy (1958)
* Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Scotland (2006)
* Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
, Israel (1958)
* Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, Germany (1958)
* Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
, Japan (1961)
* Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
, Morocco (2004)
* Odesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
, Ukraine (1972)
* Piraeus
Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...
, Greece (1984)
* Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, China (1987)
* Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
, Tunisia (1989)
Partner cities
In addition, Marseille has signed various types of formal agreements of cooperation with 27 cities all over the world:
* Agadir
Agadir ( ar, أݣادير, ʾagādīr; shi, ⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔ) is a major city in Morocco, on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains, just north of the point where the Souss River flows into the ocean, and south ...
, Morocco (2003)[
* ]Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
, Egypt (1990)[
* ]Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, Algeria (1980)[
* ]Bamako
Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...
, Mali (1991)[
* ]Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Spain (1998)[
* ]Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, Lebanon (2003)[
* ]Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
, Morocco (1998)[
* ]Gdańsk
Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...
, Poland (1992)
* Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, Turkey (2003)[
* ]Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
(2006)[
* ]Limassol
Limassol (; el, Λεμεσός, Lemesós ; tr, Limasol or ) is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the district with the same name. Limassol is the second largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population ...
, Cyprus
* Lomé
Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437 , Togo (1995)[
* ]Lyon
Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...
, France
* Meknes
Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th c ...
, Morocco (1998)[
* ]Montevideo
Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, Uruguay (1999)[
* ]Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, France
* Nîmes
Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...
, France
* Rabat
Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...
, Morocco (1989)[
* ]Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia (2013)[
* ]Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
, Bosnia-Herzegovina (2003)[
* ]Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...
, Greece
* Tirana
Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...
, Albania (1991)
* Tripoli, Libya
Tripoli (; ar, طرابلس الغرب, translit= Ṭarābulus al-Gharb , translation=Western Tripoli) is the capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.1 million people in 2019. It is located in the northwest of Libya o ...
(1991)[
* ]Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
, Tunisia (1998)[
* ]Valparaíso
Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...
, Chile (2013)[
* ]Varna, Bulgaria
Varna ( bg, Варна, ) is the third-largest List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in Bulgaria and the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in the Northern Bulgaria region. Situated strategically in the ...
(2007)[
* ]Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
, Armenia (1992)
See also
*List of films set in Marseille
Marseille has been the setting for many films, produced mostly in France or Hollywood.
Before 1950
* '' Barrabas'' (1920)
* ''Cœur fidèle'' (1923)
* '' Monte Cristo'' (1929)
* '' Marius'' (1931)
* '' Fanny'' (1932)
* ' (1935)
* '' César'' (1 ...
*Marcel Pagnol
Marcel Paul Pagnol (; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionable ...
*Marseille Marine Fire Battalion
The Marseille Naval Fire Battalion (french: Bataillon de marins-pompiers de Marseille, or ''BMPM''), is the fire and rescue service for the city of Marseille.
The battalion is a branch of the French Navy (french: Marine nationale), and consists o ...
*Marseille soap
Marseille soap or ''Savon de Marseille'' () is a traditional hard soap made from vegetable oils that has been produced around Marseille, France, for about 600 years. The first documented soapmaker was recorded there in about 1370. By 1688, Louis ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
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*
*
*
*, single book comprising 4 separate volumes: ''La préhistoire de la migration'' (1482–1830); ''L'expansion marseillaise et "l'invasion italienne"'' (1830–1918); ''Le cosomopolitisme de l'entre-deux-guerres'' (1919–1945); ''Le choc de la décolonisation'' (1945–1990).
External links
*
{{Authority control
Communes of Bouches-du-Rhône
Prefectures in France
Cities in France
Articles containing video clips
Populated places established in the 1st millennium BC