La Canebière is a historic high street in the old quarter of

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Location

About a kilometre long, it runs from the ''

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 becam ...

'' to the ''Réformés'' quarter.Marseille Tourist Office: The Canebière
/ref>Dana Facaros, Michael Pauls, ''Provence'', New Holland Publishers, 2004, p. 17

/ref> It has been called the ''

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

of Marseille''.

Toponymy

The name 'Canebière' ('Canabiera' in

Provençal dialect Provençal (, , , ; or ) is a variety of Occitan, spoken by people in Provence and parts of Drôme and Gard. The term Provençal used to refer to the entire Occitan language, but more recently it has referred only to the variety of Occitan ...

) comes from the word ''

Cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae that is widely accepted as being indigenous to and originating from the continent of Asia. However, the number of species is disputed, with as many as three species be ...

'' in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, as the area around the Old Port were originally

hemp Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a plant in the botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial and consumable use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest ...

fields and Marseille was one of the world's largest trader of hemp baskets and ropes from the Middle Ages until the 1930s, when other fibers were used instead.''Provence and the Cote D'Azur'', Lonely Planet, 2010, p. 48
/ref>

History

The avenue was built in 1666, when King

Louis XIV of France LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

decided to expand the city of Marseille. At the end of the eighteenth century, as the ''Grand Arsenal'' shipbuilding dock was demolished, the avenue was extended down to the Old Port and elegant buildings were built. Only as late as 1928 was it extended from the Old Port to the Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (also known as the Église des Réformés). During the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France durin ...

, it became a haven for high society, with many cafés, luxury hotels and boutiques, and

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

performances. However, it was marred by the assassination of King

Alexander I of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karađorđević (, ; – 9 October 1934), also known as Alexander the Unifier ( / ), was King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 16 August 1921 to 3 October 1929 and King of Yugoslavia from 3 October 1929 until his assassinati ...

on the avenue on 9 October 1934. That day, French foreign minister

Louis Barthou Jean Louis Barthou (; 25 August 1862 – 9 October 1934) was a French politician of the French Third Republic, Third Republic who served as Prime Minister of France for eight months in 1913. In social policy, his time as prime minister saw the ...

was fatally wounded as a result of this incident. Moreover, on 28 October 1938, the ''Nouvelles Galeries'' store was destroyed by fire, killing 75. The tragedy led to the reorganisation of Marseille's firefighters battalion, and the mayor, Henri Tasso, was dismissed. The avenue fell in disarray after the

French colonial empire The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas Colony, colonies, protectorates, and League of Nations mandate, mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "Firs ...

came to an end by the 1960s. In recent years, it has been refurbished. The new Line T2 of the Tramway de Marseille runs along La Canebière between Rue de Rome/Cours Belsunce and Réformés. Noailles (M2) and Vieux-Port (M1) metro stations are located along the street. On 8 May 2017, the city of Marseille organized the "Bal Patriotique" (English: "Patriotic Ball") on the Canebière to commemorate the anniversary of the Liberation of France which occurred on 8 May 1945. A similar ball was organized in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canebiere 1st arrondissement of Marseille Streets in Marseille Hemp 1666 establishments in France Cannabis in France