See our large, interactive Map of Marseille for more detail, including
satellite views of Marseille.
You can see the Vieux Port near the centre of this street map of Marseille. The newer industrial ports are to the north.
Marseille (English alternative spelling Marseilles) (pronounced /maʀsɛj/ in standard French, /mɑxˈsɛjɐ/ in local Marseilles accent) (Provençal: Marsiho or Marselha, both pronounced /maɾˈsijɐ/) is the second largest city in France and the third metropolitan area, with 1,516,340 inhabitants at the 1999 census. Located in the former province of Provence and on the Mediterranean Sea, it is France's largest commercial port and the largest in the Mediterranean.
Marseille is the capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région, as well as the préfecture (capital) of the Bouches-du-Rhône département.
History
Ancient
Marseille was founded in 600 B.C.E. by Greeks from Phocaea as a trading port under the name Μασσαλία (Massalia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). Facing an opposing alliance of the Etruscans, Carthage and the Celts, the Greek colony allied itself with the expanding Roman Republic for protection. Under this arrangement the city maintained its independence until the rise of Julius Caesar, when it joined the losing side in civil war, and lost its independence. It was the site of a siege and naval battle. During the Roman times, it was called Massilia.
Home port of Pytheas.
Medieval
Modern
In 1934 Alexander I of Yugoslavia arrived at the port to meet with the French foreign minister Louis Barthou. He was assassinated there by Vlada Georgieff.
Economy
Marseilles' harbor is the biggest of the country, and one of the most important of the Mediterranean Sea.
Administration
Marseille is divided into 16 municipal arrondissements, which are themselves divided into quartiers (111 in total). The arrondissements are regrouped in pairs into sectors, and 8 sectors have a council and a town hall, like the arrondissements in Paris and in Lyon.
The municipal elections are carried out by amazing sector. Each sector elects its councillors (303 in total), one third of which are municipal councillors.
Number of councilors elected by sector:
Sector
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Total
Sector councilors
22
16
22
30
30
26
32
24
202
Municipal councilors
11
8
12
13
15
13
16
12
100
Total number of elected officials
33
24
33
42
45
39
48
36
303
The last mayors of Marseille :
1953-1986 : Gaston Defferre (already mayor between 1944 and 1946, relected in 1959, 1965, 1971, 1977, 1983)
1986-1995 : Robert Vigouroux PS (reelected in 1989)
1995- : Jean-Claude Gaudin UMP (relected in 2001)
The Sector Mayors :
1st sector (1st and 7th arrondissements): Jean Roatta (Representative) UMP
3rd sector (4th and 5th arrondissements): Bruno Gilles (representative) UMP
4th sector (6th and 8th arrondissements): Dominique Tian (representative) UMP
5th sector (9th and 10th arrondissements): Guy Teissier (representative) UMP
6th sector (11th and 12th arrondissements): Roland Blum (representative) UMP
7th sector (13th and 14th arrondissements): Garo Hovsepian PS
8th sector (15th and 16th arrondissements): Frédéric Dutoit (representative) PCF
The cantons of Marseille :
Marseille holds 25 of the 58 seats at the general council of the Bouches-du-Rhône. Since the last election, these 25 cantons are held by the following councilors:
Marseille-La,Belle-de-Mai (pop. 25,878); General Councilor: Lisette Narducci PS (Mayor of the 2ème sector de Marseille)
Marseille-Belsunce (pop. 27,992); General Councilor: Fortuné Sportiello PS
Marseille-La,Blancarde (pop. 30,168); General Councilor Maurice Di Nocera UDF
Marseille-Le,Camas (pop. 27,506); General Councilor: Antoine Rouzaud PS (Municipal councilor of Marseille)
Marseille-La,Capelette (pop. 34,292); General Councilor: Janine Ecochard PS
Marseille-Les,Cinq-Avenues (pop. 29,846); General Councilor: Marie-Arlette Carlotti PS (Representative européenne)
Marseille-Les,Grands-Carmes (pop. 29,060); General Councilor: Jean-Noël Guerini PS (Sénateur, Président du Conseil Général, Municipal councilor of Marseille)
Marseille-Mazargues (pop. 35,890); General Councilor: Didier Réault UMP
Marseille-Montolivet (pop. 33,644); General Councilor: Maurice Rey UMP
Marseille-Notre-Dame-du-Mont (pop. 31,107); General Councilor: Jocelyn Zeitoun PS
Marseille-Notre-Dame-Limite (pop. 33,472); General Councilor: Joël Dutto PCF
Marseille-Les,Olives (pop. 27,052); General Councilor: Marius Masse PS
Marseille-La,Pointe-Rouge (pop. 31,116); General Councilor: Richard Miron UMP
Marseille-La,Pomme (pop. 38,701); General Councilor: René Olmeta PS (Municipal councilor of Marseille)
Marseille-La,Rose (pop. 33,206); General Councilor: Félix Weygand PS
Marseille-Saint-Barthélemy (pop. 37,629); General Councilor: Denis Rossi PS (Municipal councilor of Marseille)
Marseille-Sainte-Marguerite (pop. 36,868); General Councilor: Didier Garnier UMP
Marseille-Saint-Giniez (pop. 34,621); General Councilor: Martine Vassal UMP (Adjointe au Maire de Marseille)
Marseille-Saint-Just (pop. 32,749); General Councilor: Michel Pezet PS (Municipal councilor of Marseille)
Marseille-Saint-Lambert (pop. 26,218); General Councilor: Robert Assante UMP (Adjoint au Maire de Marseille)
Marseille-Saint-Marcel (pop. 29,981); General Councilor: Jean Bonat PS (Municipal councilor of Marseille)
Marseille-Saint-Mauront (pop. 40,392); General Councilor: Jeanine Porte PCF
Marseille-Les,Trois,Lucs (pop. 25,324); General Councilor: Christophe Masse PS (Representative)
Marseille-Vauban (pop. 29,668); General Councilor: André Malrait UMP
Marseille-Verduron (pop. 35,752). General Councilor: Henri Jibrayel PS
Culture
The French national anthem "La Marseillaise" is named for the Revolutionary troops from Marseille.
The most widely circulated tarot deck comes from Marseille; it is called the Tarot de Marseille, and was used to play the local variant of tarocchi before it came to the notice of people who used it in cartomancy.
Music
The French rap band IAM is from Marseille
Massilia Sound System
Watcha Clan
Demographics
The vast majority of the Marsellaise are descendants of the waves of immigrants that arrived to the port in the early 19th century. Such as; Armenians, Spaniards, Italians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews, Russians and North Africans. Approximately 25 per cent of Marseille’s population is of North African origin, mostly Algerian, and Tunisian. The Jewish community is also the third largest in Europe.
Sights
the old harbor
Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde
Château d'If, an ancient prison island, where The Count of Monte Cristo was jailed, in Alexandre Dumas' novel
Unité d'Habitation de Marseille, by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier
The calanques
Transportation
The metro is a rubber-tiredtrain.
Marseille is served by the Aéroport de Marseille Provence, located in Marignane.
Miscellaneous
The city's main football club is Olympique de Marseille, UEFA Champions League winner in 1993 but tainted by the 1990s match fixing scandal by then-owner Bernard Tapie.
Births
Marseille was the birthplace of:
Antonin Artaud (1897-1948), author
Maurice Béjart (born 1927), ballet choreographer
Jean-Henry Gourgaud, aka. "Dugazon" (1746-1809), actor
Désirée Clary (1777-1860), wife of King Carl XIV Johann of Sweden, and therefore Queen Desirée or Queen Desideria of Sweden
Adolphe Thiers (1797-1877), first president of the Third Republic
Etienne Joseph Louis Garnier-Pages (1801-1841), politician
Honoré Daumier (1808-1879), caricaturist and painter
Joseph Autran (1813-1877), poet
Olivier Émile Ollivier (1825-1913), statesman
Joseph Pujol, aka. "Le Pétomane" (1857-1945), entertainer
Edmond Rostand (1868-1918), poet and dramatist
Vincent Scotto (1876-1952), guitarist, songwriter
Fernandel (1903-1971), actor
Eliane Browne-Bartroli (1917-1944), French Resistance, Croix de Guerre
Louis Jourdan (born 1919), actor
Jean Pierre Rampal (1922-2000), flutist
Jean-Claude Izzo (1945-2000), author
Zinedine Zidane (born 1972), soccer player
Deaths
French poet Arthur Rimbaud died in Marseille on November 10, 1891.
King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was assassinated on October 9, 1934 in Marseille along with French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou.
Movies set in Marseille
37°2 le matin (1986)
Baise-moi (2000)
Bye-Bye (1995)
Comme un aimant (2000)
The French Connection (1971) and its sequel (1975)
I have to confess I was little short of terrified arriving into St. Charles station in the middle of a heatwave (yes, even by Marseille standards), and picking my way through dust and what seemed to me then to be some fairly dodgey looking characters.
But I grew to love it. Walking and swimming aroud the calanques, taking the boat out of the Vieux Port to the islands. The first view of Notre-Dame de la Garde on a summer's evening, as we rounded the corner on the Route de la Gineste, heading back from Cassis, always makes me think of Leonard Cohen singing:
"The sun pours down like honey on Our Lady of the harbour".
And, after a year in this great, historic city, the messiness, the grittiness became quite refreshing, in comparison with some of those chic places along the coast.
