36 Facts About Marseille

Marseille is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhone and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region.

Additionally, Marseille hosted matches at the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2016.

Marseille is the third-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris and Lyon.

Farther out in the Bay of Marseille is the Frioul archipelago which comprises four islands, one of which, If, is the location of Chateau d'If, made famous by the Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo.

The centre of Marseille has several pedestrianised zones, most notably Rue St Ferreol, Cours Julien near the Music Conservatory, the Cours Honore-d'Estienne-d'Orves off the Old Port and the area around the Hotel de Ville.

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Marseille was founded as the Greek colony of Massalia circa 600 BC, and was populated by Greek settlers from Phocaea .

Marseille lost a significant portion of its population during the Great Plague of Marseille in 1720, but the population had recovered by mid-century.

Marseille is a major French centre for trade and industry, with excellent transportation infrastructure .

Marseille is connected with the Rhone via a canal and thus has access to the extensive waterway network of France.

City of Marseille is divided into 16 municipal arrondissements, which are themselves informally divided into 111 neighbourhoods .

From 1950 to the mid-1990s, Marseille was a Socialist and Communist stronghold.

Marseille was succeeded by Robert Vigouroux of the European Democratic and Social Rally .

At the last municipal election in 2014, Marseille was divided between the northern arrondissements dominated by the left and far-right and the southern part of town dominated by the conservative .

Marseille is divided in twelve cantons, each of them sending two members to the Departmental Council of the Bouches-du-Rhone department.

Marseille has the second-largest Corsican and Armenian populations of France.

Since 2013 a significant number of Central- and Eastern European immigrants have settled in Marseille, attracted by better job opportunities and the good climate of this Mediterranean city.

Marseille is a city that has its own unique culture and is proud of its differences from the rest of France.

Marseille has a large number of theatres, including La Criee, Le Gymnase and the Theatre Toursky.

Residents of Marseille are of diverse origins, yet appear to share a similar particular identity.

An example is how Marseille responded in 2005, when ethnic populations living in other French cities' suburbs rioted, but Marseille remained relatively calm.

Marseille served as the European Capital of Culture for 2013 along with Kosice.

Marseille has served as a major port where immigrants from around the Mediterranean arrive.

The name Tarot de Marseille was used by contrast to other types of Tarots such as Tarot de Besancon; those names were simply associated with cities where there were many cardmakers in the 18th century .

Since 1803, starting on the last Sunday of November, there has been a Santon Fair in Marseille; it is currently held in the Cours d'Estienne d'Orves, a large square off the Vieux-Port.

Since 1972, the Ballet national de Marseille has performed at the opera house; its director from its foundation to 1998 was Roland Petit.

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In 2013, Marseille hosted Europride, an international LGBT event, 10 July–20.

Marseille is home to the headquarters of the IRD, which promotes research into questions affecting developing countries.

Marseille has a large ferry terminal, the Gare Maritime, with services toCorsica, Sardinia, Algeria and Tunisia.

The most popular team is the city's football club, Olympique de Marseille, which was the finalist of the UEFA Champions League in 1991, before winning the competition in 1993, the only French club to do so as of 2022.

Marseille is famous for its important petanque activity, it is even renowned as the petanque capitale.

In 2012 Marseille hosted the Petanque World Championship and the city hosts every year the Mondial la Marseillaise de petanque, the main petanque competition.

Marseille has been the host of 8 Match Race France events which are part of the World Match Racing Tour.

Match racing is an ideal sport for spectators in Marseille, as racing in close proximity to the shore provides excellent views.

CN Marseille has traditionally been one of France's dominant Water polo teams as it won the Championnat de France a total of 36 times.

Marseille is a place for other water sports such as windsurfing and powerboating.

Marseille is twinned with 14 cities, all of them being port cities, with the exception of Marrakech.