Marseille's Old Town (Self Guided), Marseille

The Old Port of Marseille is located on the Canebiere, the "Main Street" of the old city. Yes, the city is old, like very old. Originally used as a seaport of the ancient Phoenicians, a sea-faring nation that had colonies throughout the Mediterranean.

The old port itself was established in 600 BCE by Greek settlers from Phocaea. Shipyards were established by both Louis XII and Louis XIII during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Louis XIV erected the forts of St Jean and St Nicolas at the harbor's entrance. Apparently, in France, there has been no dearth of Louis.

In it's busy heyday, in the 1850s, the port was host to as many as 18,000 merchant ships a year. This amount of traffic rivaled that of major European ports like Liverpool or Le Havre. With the advent of steam the shallow depth of the harbor created problems for the deeper draft steamships.

In World War II German occupation forces, with the help, unfortunately, of the French police destroyed most of the harbor to deny its use by the allies. This became known as the "Battle of Marseille".

The Old Port today serves mainly as a marina. It is a terminal for local boats and ferries. It also has a fish market. It stars in quite a few movies, such as, The Count of Monte Cristo, featuring the Chateau d'If, and The French Connection and French Connection II, featuring Gene Hackman and Tony LoBianco.

Why you should visit:
The Old Port has been thoroughly renovated and it is mostly open to pedestrians. The harbor and the many historical sights and buildings can be seen when walking along the Canebiere.

The Church of Saint Ferreol is a Roman Catholic church in Marseille. The original building on site was owned by the Knights Templar. However, in 1369, it was given to a community of Augustinian hermits. By 1447, they decided to spearhead the construction a new church building. It was dedicated in 1542, even though the vault was only completed in 1588.

During the Ancien Régime (15th century to 18th century), it was used for professional ceremonies. For example, ship-porters had their own altars in the church as early as 1390: one dedicated to Saint Peter, and a second one to Saint Paul. Pope Clement VII (1478–1534) married his niece, Catherine de' Medici (1519–1589), to Henry II of France (1519–1559), in this church on October 28, 1533.

During the French Revolution of 1789, it came close to being destroyed. However, it was salvaged. Shortly after, it was renamed in honour of Saint Augustine. Later, it was sold to a businessman. Later, it was returned to the Catholic Church.

The high altar was designed by Dominique Fossaty, as were the altars of the Augustinians and of the ship-porters. Inside the church can also be found the Mazenod family's tomb dating back to 1564 and the Montolieu family's tomb, dating back to 1695. The relics of Saint Louis of Toulouse (1274–1297) are also in the church.

The church has a few works of art. Three paintings by Michel Serre (1658-1733) are displayed inside the church: Sainte Marguerite, La Vierge à l'enfant apparaissant à Saint Pierre and Saint Paul. There is also a bust of Saint Ferréol de Vienne. Additionally, there is a sculpture of Saint Augustine designed by Raymond Servian (1903-1953). Another sculpture, by Élie-Jean Vézien (1890-1982), represents Saint Theresa. Yet another sculpture, this time by Louis Botinelly (1883-1962), is of Joan of Arc. A more recently sculpture, designed by Yves le Pape in 1979, depicts the Holy Family.

The neogothic pipe organ, designed by Augustin Zieger, dates back to 1844.

Marseille has been there forever, it seems. In the Ruins Garden see the ruins of a port that goes back as far as 2000 years or more. Foundation stones bear mason's marks from ancient Greece and Rome.

Imagine the noise of wooden ships bumping against the stone docksides. The ruins of the port were discovered while excavating for the neighboring Centre Bourse shopping mall. The garden holds many pieces, going as far into the past as the 6th century BCE.

The Garden was created and developed by Joel-Louis Martin, a celebrated landscape architect. It is managed by the Museum of Marseille. The wharves and docks of this busy ancient port are plainly visible.

The Ruins Garden is close to the Old Port and access is granted by the purchase of a ticket from the Museum of Marseille. There are panels on site in three languages (English, French and Italian) which explain everything to sailors and landlubbers alike.

Opening Hours: Mon-Sat: 12-7pm

The Saint-Cannat Church is a Roman Catholic church in Marseille, located in the 1st arrondissement of Marseille. This local church was founded by the Dominicans in the 16th century and it stands today in the very center of the city. The main architectural design of the building is late Baroque.

Take a peek inside to admire the richly decorated interior and the works of art. Two paintings by Michel Serre (1658-1733) are displayed in the church: La vierge à l’enfant et le purgatoire and La purification de la Vierge. There is also a painting by Pierre Parrocel (1664–1739), representing the baptism of Christ. Additionally, one can see a sculpture of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897) designed by François Carli (1872-1957). The pipe organ, designed by Jean-Esprit Isnard (1707-1781), dates back to 1747.

The church building has been listed as a historical monument since 1926.

Operation hours: Monday & Thursday 9 am - 1 pm, Wednesday 9 am - 7 pm, Tuesday & Friday 9 am - 12 pm.

Constructed around 1535, the Hotel Cabre is thought to be the oldest building in Marseille still in use today. It was constructed in a strange mixture of gothic and renaissance style by Louis Cabre, Second Consul of Marseille in 1544.

Also known as la maison de l'Echevinde Cabre, the hotel is situated at the angle of Bonneterie Street and Grand Street in the 2nd arrondissement. The house passed several centuries with a minimum of damage. However, in the revolution, vandals destroyed the armories of flowers which adorned the facade.

In 1943, during the raid on Marseille, German forces almost all but destroyed some streets bordering the north bank of the Old Port. Some buildings of historical value were preserved, like the Diamond House and the Hotel Cabre.

On the front of the hotel are effigies of the owner and his wife along with amorous cherubim and a statue of Saint James, a reference to Jacques de Cabre, father to Louis Cabre.

The InterContinental Marseille-Hotel Dieu is a five star luxury hotel that has been in operation since 2013. But it was not always a hotel. The building has served Marseille as a hospital for over eight hundred years.

It occupies the site of the Saint-Esprit Hospital which was opened in 1188. For six hundred years the hospital underwent several alterations until 1866 when the present building was inaugurated by Napoleon III. In 1963, the hospital was designated a registered national monument.

The ancient hospital became a luxury hotel in 2003. It has 172 rooms with prices going as high as $6,000 USD or more. It still bears the name Hotel-Dieu, a spiritual reference to its mercy days. In 1993 the Hospital stopped receiving patients and converted to a teaching hospital.

The Hospital saw continuous service to the city for 825 years. Through pandemics, wars, revolutions and sufferings of every kind. The Hotel Dieu is now actually a hotel, offering a different kind of refuge to the city of Marseille.

The Notre-Dame-des-Accoules church is part of a set including a bell tower, classified as a historic monument by decree of July 7 , 1964, the only vestige of the medieval church razed from 1794, a Calvary erected in 1820, and a new church built in 1824-1826.

According to tradition this church was built on the ruins of the temple of Minerva 2 . In 1033, the nuns of the Abbey of Saint-Sauveur in Marseille, received in the enclosure of Notre-Dame-des-Accoules, were its rectresses. In 1060, the mention Sancta Maria ad Acuas associated it with the property of the monastery which was then attached to the Abbey of Saint-Victor . The church was rebuilt in 1205, known by an inscription on a column that has been preserved.

In 1793 the church of Accoules hosted the assemblies of a municipal section engaged in the federalist insurrection against the Convention . After the defeat of the federalists , the representatives of the people on a mission in the Bouches-du-Rhône department ordered the buildings which had served them as “haunts” to be razed.

Of this important Gothic building only the bell tower is preserved, spared because its clock gives the time for all the work of the port and the city 6 , as well as the back wall which has preserved the ogival traces of the three naves of the building.

In 1820 a crypt depicting the Holy Sepulcher surmounted by a rock calvary was built against the back wall of the old church. In front, the Place du Calvaire is leveled and closed by a gate.

The Diamond House, the old hotel of Saboulin Bopllena, is located right behind the mayor's residence, the City Hall. It gained its name from the diamond shaped stones that cover its facade. Along with the Hotel Cabree is one of the most well preserved domiciles today.

It was erected in the 15th century on the grounds of the old palace gardens of Provence by rich Spanish and Italian investors. The house has sheltered the great families of Marseille such as Pierre Sebolin de Bollena, second sheriff of Marseille in 1685 and then his nephew, Francois de Sabolin Bollena, first sheriff of Marseille in 1702.

From 1967 to 2009 the building housed the Museum of Old Marseille. Then afterward the collections were made a part of the Marseille History Museum. The museum makes a fair presentation of life in the city in the 18th and 19th centuries and it also has a very impressive exhibit on the Plague of 1720.

The Hotel de Ville is, of course, not a hotel. It is the City Hall of Marseille. Built in 1656, it has been Marseille's civic center ever since. It replaced the "Maison de Ville", which had served the same purpose since the thirteenth century.

The Hotel de Ville is a pink stone building constructed in the Genoan Baroque style. It fronts the harbor's edge of the Old Port of Marseille. It has an ornate facade, designed by Gaspard Puget. The facade is adorned with sculptures and flags.

Above the main entrance is the seal of the city, designed by Pierre Puget, yes, Pierre is related to Gaspard. They were brothers. Pierre was a favorite of Louis XIV, so naturally there is a bust of his royal highness. He perches high above all else, overseeing the bustling harbor and the boulevard below.

The kings did not survive the 18th century. However the Hotel de Ville did survive. It survived regimes, revolutions (France has had more than one), and even World War II.

It is often referred to as "La Loge", from the Italian word "Loggia" because of it's Baroque style. Around the back of the building is a bridge connecting the two main levels of the Hotel.

In the 18th century the floors were disconnected to separate the nobility, who occupied the top floor, and the merchants and other lesser souls who used the ground floor. The bridge now reunites the classes, which is a sign of progress!

Operating hours:
Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.

Located at 16 Esplanade de la Tourette, St. Laurent is a church in the Provence Romanesque style of architecture. It was established as a fisherman' parish and erected over the remnants of a temple of Apollo.

There was no sign of Apollo, but a capital was unearthed that certainly must be Apollo's. At least it looks like it very well might be. In any event, this mysterious capital is now on display at the Marseille History Museum.

The St. Laurent Church has fared much better than Apollo. The church along with the Saint Catherine Chapel survived the devastation of the so-called Battle of Marseille during the German occupation. The current state of the building is ok, but its main draw is history. A long history in a city full of incredible histories.

It sits across from Fort St. Jean, accessible by footbridge. The St. Laurent Church appears rather plain looking. Perhaps its facade and interior do not compete well with the other churches in town. But if you go inside, the weight of all those years of struggle and hope will touch you.

Fort Saint-Jean is a fortification in Marseille, built in 1660 by Louis XIV at the entrance to the Old Port. Fort Saint-Nicolas was constructed at the same time on the opposite side of the harbor. Two earlier buildings were incorporated into the structure of the fort: the twelfth century Commandry of the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem, which served as a monastic hospice during the crusades; and the fifteenth century tower of René I, King of Provence.

In April 1790 Fort Saint-Jean was seized by a revolutionary mob who decapitated the commander of the royal garrison. During the subsequent French Revolution the fort was used as a prison, holding Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, and two of his sons, Louis-Charles, Count of Beaujolais, and Antoine Philippe, Duke of Montpensier. Following the overthrow of Robespierre in 1794 about a hundred Jacobin prisoners held in the fort were massacred. Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries Fort Saint-Jean was in the possession of the French Army, who utilized it as a barracks and clearing station for the Army of Africa.

During World War II Fort Saint-Jean was occupied by the German military in November 1942. In August 1944 during the liberation of Marseilles, the explosion of a munitions depot within the fort destroyed much of its historic battlements and buildings. Classified as a historical monument in 1964, the damaged portions of the fort were reconstructed between 1967 and 1971. It now houses the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations.

Also known as Cathedrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille, it is actually two cathedrals, old and new. In the latter part of the 19th century Napoleon III, Emperor of France, decided to replace the 12th century provencal romanesque cathedral ("Vielle Major"). He had it demolished, all but the choir and one bay of the nave.

He spared the remnant when the outraged population demonstrated against the change. The new cathedral ("Nouvelle Major") is a massive Romanesque-Byzantine Revival structure. Towering over the waterfront, it is 469 feet long, and the main cupola is 231 feet high. It can hold up to some 3,000 souls.

It is located on the Plaza Major. The facade is formed of two different types of stone tile, giving the effect of horizontal bars of color. The locals were reminded of bedtime attire and they often refer to the cathedral as "the Pajamas", no offense intended. The interior features Carrera marble, Tunisian onyx, and Venetian mosaics.

The remains of the old 12th century cathedral huddle alongside La Major. There is not a lot left of it after Napoleon III's smashing venture. There is a chansel and an apse with smaller apses on the side. The vault is cylindrical with an eight-sided cupola above the transept and a seven-sided cupola above the cross of the transept.

Why you should visit:
This is an awesome structure. It declares not so much spiritual glory as it does the past glory of Imperial France. Dominating all around it, it declares power forgotten but never outdone. And besides, admission is free.

Opening Hours: Tue-Sun: 10am-6:30pm (Apr-Sep); 10am-5:30pm (Oct-Mar)

La Vieille Charité, constructed between 1671 and 1749, is a former almshouse, now functioning as a museum and cultural center, situated in the heart of the old Panier quarter of Marseille in the south of France.

The main body of the structure is a rectangle, 112 m by 96 m, composed of four walls in pink and yellow-tinted molasse stone from the ancient quarries at Cap Couronne, with no outward facing windows. On the inside are three arcaded galleries superposed on each other, opening onto an interior courtyard measuring 82 m by 45 m. In the center of the courtyard is a harmonious chapel, a round church, crowned by an ellipsoidal dome and fronted by a portico in the classical style with Corinthian columns. This Baroque chapel ranks as one of Puget's most original designs.

In the seventeenth century the repression of beggars was conducted with great brutality in France. Guards called "beggar-hunters" had the task of rounding up beggars: non-residents among them were expelled from Marseille, and natives of Marseille were shut up in prison. The almshouses served as workhouses for the beggars. Children were found jobs as domestic servants, cabin boys or apprentices with seamstresses or bakers.

Spared during the French Revolution, the building was used as an asylum for "vagrants and the dispossessed" in the nineteenth century. It was transformed into a barracks for the French Foreign Legion until 1922, when it was used to lodge those displaced by the demolition of the district behind the Bourse and later those made homeless by the dynamiting of the Old Port during the Second World War.

For many years after the World War II, the building was plagued by squatters living in unsafe conditions. Between 1968 and 1986, with the intervention of Ministry of Culture, La Vieille Charité was painstakingly restored to its former glory.

Why You Should Visit:
Beautiful and interesting exhibitions and rich, varied collections of great quality, all in a splendid setting.
The stone used, the general layout and tall ceilings of the corridors and rooms make this a unique attraction.

Tip:
Don't miss the chapel/church nearby, and there's also a popular café and pleasant courtyard for lunch.

Opening Hours: Tue-Sun: 10am-6pm