Page 529 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

of the port. A formidable fort-
ress, constructed in 1529 to
house artillery, it later became 300
a prison, made famous by
Alexandre Dumas’s novel The
Count of Monte Cristo. The average number
Completed in 1864, the of days of sunshine
Neo-Byzantine Basilique de that Marseille gets
Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde per year.
dominates the city, its 46-m-
(151-ft-) high belfry capped by
a huge gilded statue of the
Virgin. Abbaye de St-Victor was specifically the Mediter ranean
rebuilt in the 11th century and region with over 500,000
has an intriguing crypt, with an ethno graphical items, plus
original catacomb chapel and art and books.
pagan and Christian tombs.
Annually, on 2 February, this Musée des Beaux-Arts
becomes a place of pilgrimage " ⌂ Palais Longchamp, pl
celebrating the legendary Aile Gauche (left wing)
arrival of St Mary Magdalene, § 04 91 14 59 30 # 9:30am–
Lazarus and St Martha nearly 6:30pm Tue–Sun ¢ 1 Jan, 1
2,000 years ago. May, 1 & 11 Nov, 25 & 26 Dec
In 1640, construction of a
shelter “for the poor and beg- Château d’If
gars” of Marseille was begun "'-= ⌂ Vieux Port
by royal decree. A hundred # Jan–Mar & Oct–Dec: 10am–
years later, Pierre Puget’s La 5pm Tue–Sun; Apr–Sep: 10am–
Vieille Charité hospital and 6pm daily ∑ chateau-if.fr
The mosaic-paved parvis church opened. The restored
in front of the Basilica-St- building houses the Musée La Vieille Charité
Michel in Menton d’Archéo logie Méditerrané- "\ ⌂ 2 rue de la Charité
enne; the Musée des Arts # Hours vary, check
Africains, Océaniens et Amér- website ∑ vieille-
was seized by the Romans in indiens (MAAOA) is on the charite-marseille.com
49 BC. It became the “Gateway second floor.
to the West” for most Oriental Linking Marseille’s harbour, Musée des Civilisations
trade. France’s largest port a former port terminal and de l’Europe et de la
and lively second-largest city the 17th-century Fort St-Jean, Méditerranée (MuCEM)
has close links with the Middle the fascinating Musée des "\= ⌂ 1 esplanade de J4,
East and North Africa. It was a Civilisations de l’Europe et 201 quai du Port (VJ4 and
European Capital of Culture in de la Méditerranée (MuCEM) Fort Saint-Jean) # Hours
2013, and has renovated its focuses on the enthralling vary, check website
old harbour and port terminal. history of civilization in Europe, ∑ mucem.org
Marseille has excellent
museums, including several
in the old harbour area. The JEAN COCTEAU
Musée Cantini, to the south, is Born near Paris in 1889, Cocteau spent
one of the best and houses much of his very public life around the
the 20th-century art collec- Côte d’Azur. A man of powerful intellect
tion of sculp tor Jules Cantini. and great élan, he became a member
The Musée des Beaux-Arts of the Académie Française in 1955.
is in the handsome 19th- Among other talents, Cocteau
century Palais Longchamp. was a dramatist (La Machine
Works include Michel Serre’s Infernale, 1934); the writer of
graphic views of Marseille’s Les Enfants Terribles (1929);
plague of 1721, Pierre Puget’s and a surrealist film director.
town plans for the city and Orphée (1950) was partly
murals depicting it in Greek shot against the barren
and Roman times. landscape at Les Baux (p517).
The Château d’If (Castle of He died before his museum
Yew) stands on a tiny island opened in 1967.
2 km (1 mile) to the southwest
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