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:Marseilles redirects here. There is also Marseilles, Illinois.
Marseille (English Marseilles, Provençal Marsilha) is the second largest city in France. Located in the former province of Provence and on the Mediterranean sea, it is France's largest commercial port.
It has a population of 807,071 (1999 census), and 1,516,340 for the wider Marseille- Aix-en-Provence urban area (in French: aire urbaine).
Marseille is the préfecture ( capital) of the Bouches-du-Rhône département.
1 History
Marseille was founded in 600 BC by Greeks as a trading port. It was overrun by Celts and then conquered by the Romans. During the RomanRoman or Romans has several meanings, primarily related to the Roman citizens but also applicable to typography math and a commune''. Roman The noun Roman means a citizen of Rome. The adjective Roman means pertaining or related to Rome. The name Romans in times, it was called MassiliaUntil the Modern Era, Latin was the common language for scholarship and mapmaking. During the 19th and 20th centuries, German scholars in particular have made significant contributions to the study of historical place names, or Ortsnamenkunde''. These stu.
2 Highlights
- The old harbor
- Notre-Dame-de-la-GardeNotre-Dame-de-la-Garde is a basilica located in Marseille, France. This ornate Neo-Byzantine church sits atop the signal hill of La Garde, the highest natural point in Marseille, being a 162 m (532 ft) limestone outcrop on the south side of the Vieux Port
- Château d'IfThe Chateau d'If is located on the small island of If, situated about a mile offshore in the Bay of Marseille. It is a square, three-storey building 28 m long on each side, flanked by three towers with large gun embrasures. The remainder of the island, wh, an ancient prison islandAdriatic sea An island is any piece of land smaller than a continent and larger than a rock, that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets . Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on a, where The Count of Monte CristoThe Count of Monte Cristo is a classic adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, pere''. It is often considered Dumas's best work, and is frequently included on lists of the best novels of all time. The writing of the work was completed in 1844, and released as was jailed, in Alexandre Dumas' novel
- Unité d'Habitation de Marseille, by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier
3 Culture
The French rap band IAM is 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.
The French national anthem " La Marseillaise" is named for Marseille.
4 Miscellaneous
The metro is rubber-tired.
The city's main football club is Olympique de Marseille, Champions League winner in 1993 but tainted by the 1990s match-fixing scandal by then-owner Bernard Tapie.
Marseille was the birthplace of:
- 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
- Honore 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), flute player
- Jean-Claude Izzo (1945-2000), author
- Zinedine Zidane (born 1972), soccer player
