An ever changing city
Marseille foundation, an anchor is dropped.
Even if there is evidence of human life for over 20 000 years. The Greeks started the foundation of Marseille 600 years before JC. The history of the city definitely turns towards the sea. Indeed, thanks to the great Blue sea, the very first inhabitants arrived. 5oo years later, the Marseille port was born. Constructed as a sunken pond, it started to welcome the merchant vessels. Massalia, as it was named at the time, was about to experience its first Golden Age based on the exchange of goods to the West and to the South.
History of Marseille throughout the centuries
The history of Marseille is complex, made up of power, trade and chance. With the conquest of the city by Julius Caesar, Arles was given the upper hand. Business flourished on the other side of the Rhone but Marseille took its revenge 10 centuries later with the arrival of the Franks. The Romanesque buildings built in the Phocaean city bear witness to this. However, it was in the 19th century that Marseille experienced a second golden age by becoming once again a stronghold of trade in the Mediterranean. Since this period, the city has always been in a favorable position. The exceptional sunshine of the city is probably not for nothing and its history is not over.
History of Marseille continues..
Today, Marseille is on a roll. Thanks to its cultural presence on subjects as diverse as hip-hop, architecture and the environment, the city has encouraged initiatives to the point of making it the European Capital of Culture in 2013. With nearly 10 million visitors, the success was unprecedented. Since then, all eyes have turned to this unique city where new venues, such as the MuCEM, the Friche Belle de Mai or the Terrasses du Port, are flourishing. Impertinent but pleasant, innovative but attached to its traditions, cosmopolitan and Provençal, of land and sea… Marseille now has all the characteristics of a great city.
