French Rivera: Marseille
This Beautiful Port Called Marseille
Marseille has gone on to become one of the top French destinations and here is how it evolved…
Famously known as Massilia when the Romans ruled over it, Marseille is a port city in south France on the Mediterranean Sea. Today, The city is the next largest hub in France after Paris. It was labelled European Capital of Culture in 2013. It is the most cosmopolitan city in the south of France and has a large number of theatres and an extensive arts centre in La Firche.
Being a port since ancient times, Marseille has also been a city of trade since immemorial times. This makes the place a fusion of accents, ideas and civilizations. The city is multilingual and multicultural. Though it was once an ancient city, it now contains restaurants, offices and hotels and functions mostly as a private marina.
Fishing is an important occupation .The local catch influences the food economy of Marseille. A daily fish market is still held on the Quai des Belges of the Old Port Marseille.
Showing the industrial past of Marseille, Silo d’Arenc built in 1926 was a place used to store and process wheat. Presently this place is used to host concerts and official spaces are made available for technology and cultural organisations.
The Villa Mediterranee which was designed by Stefno Boeri is another place with excellent architecture located on the J4 jetty in Marseille on the Old Port. It has modern architectural designed on a traditional structure. The structure is such that it blends the sea and land. The height is 40 meters near the sea and overlooks upon a manmade water body. Few spaces are underwater and the total surface area of the structure is 10,000 sq. m.
Civilisation has flourished on this port for over 30,000 years. After the World War, in the 1950s Marseille became the point of entry for the immigrants. It welcomed about a million immigrants. A decade later Marseille became the point of entry for emigrants from the newly liberated Algeria. Most of these migrants now stay back and have formed a French-African community of their own.
Such is the beautiful and picturesque port town of Marseille.
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All the things in our lives are have one thing in common- They All Have A Past. Join us as we discover these stories and make life interesting. After all, history is a story.
