#publisher Art and design RSS feed Architecture RSS feed Travel RSS
   feed Marseille RSS feed Culture RSS feed

   Turn autoplay off
--
     * Architecture

Marseille's £6bn Capital of Culture rebirth

   Marseille – the port city once notorious for gangs, drugs and
   violence – is in the grip of a £6bn rebirth. Will its flashy new
   architecture, including a giant mirror by Norman Foster, make it a
--

   The smell of cement dust and freshly caught fish wafts through the
   harbour of Marseille, to a backdrop of pneumatic drills and
   high-pressure hoses. Everywhere you look, the city is being polished
   and scrubbed, renovated and repainted. Roads are being resurfaced,
--
   which began three months ago.

   "Marseille is never in a hurry," says my taxi driver, describing how
   the city has been a building site for the last 10 years. As he speaks,
   he takes a diversion around three huge holes in the ground that will
--
   It's a philosophy of quiet intervention that does not seem to be shared
   by the architects operating a little way down the waterfront. Here, on
   the once-abandoned J4 pier, stand the flagship projects of Marseille's
   bid to be recognised as a cultural centre. The Villa Méditerranée,
   designed by Italian architect Stefano Boeri, is the first thing you see
--
   first stand-alone national museum outside Paris.

   Due to open in June, Mucem is something of a coup for Marseille.
   Nestling beneath the craggy wall of Fort Saint-Jean, a 17th-century
   stronghold that once housed the Foreign Legion, the squat glass
--
   to the town. Exploiting the natural drama of Mucem's steep hillside
   setting, this is a brilliant, brazen move that, no matter what the
   museum houses, will provide one of Marseille's most thrilling new
   walks.

--
   until 2020 – in total bringing 24,000 new homes, 1m square metres of
   offices, and 150 acres of public space. This will no doubt give
   Marseille the economic boost it needs, although how far this will
   filter out into the impoverished peripheries is questionable.

   The city's bold embrace of such grands projets is, however, nothing
   new. When Louis XIV had Fort Saint-Jean built, way back in 1660, he
   said: "We noticed that the inhabitants of Marseille were extremely fond
   of nice fortresses." Little did he know that, 350 years on, they would
   still be building them.
--
   Close this popup

   Marseille's £6bn Capital of Culture rebirth
   This article was published on the Guardian website at 17.59 BST on
   Monday 1 April 2013. A version appeared on p16 of the G2 section of the
--
Travel

     * Marseille

Culture

   More features
     * More on Marseille
     * A shiny shade structure for Marseille by Foster and Partners
       Marseille's moment
       As European Capital of Culture, Marseille is shaking off its seedy
       image, says Vanessa Thorpe, with a year of extraordinary arts
       events and a series of breathtaking architectural projects
     * An art and shopping tour of Marseille
     * Le Corbusier's Cité Radieuse rooftop gym transformed into art
       space
     * Marseille

     * Share