Consuls. British Consul-General, M. C. Gurney, Rue des Princes 8; vice-consuls, T. Broadwood, F. J. Hamling.—U. S. Consul-General, A. Gaulin, Cours Pierre-Puget 10; vice-consul, P. H. Cram.
English Church, Rue de Bellois 4; services at 10.30 and 3.30.
Marseilles, Fr. Marseille, the second-largest city in France, with 517,500 inhab., the Massalia of the Greeks and Massilia of the Romans, was founded by Greeks from Phocæa (p. [530]) in Asia Minor about 600 B. C., and soon became one of the greatest seaports on the Mediterranean. During the Roman period it vied with Athens as a seat of Greek culture; in the middle ages it belonged to the kingdom of Arelate, and later to the county of Provence, and in 1481 it was at length annexed to France. Being situated at the mouth of the great and time-honoured route through the Rhone Valley to N.W. Europe, it is the most important of French and of all Mediterranean seaports. The total exports and imports are estimated at 2926 million francs, and nearly 17 million tons of shipping enter and clear annually. The city is now almost entirely modern and destitute of historical memorials.
From the Bassin du Lazaret (Pl. B, 1) and Bassin de la Joliette (Pl. B, 2, 3), the southmost of the docks constructed since 1850 to the N.W. of the old town, we follow the Quai de la Joliette to the—
*Cathedral (Pl. B, C, 3; Ste. Marie Majeure or La Major), situated on a terrace. This is one of the largest and finest churches of the 19th cent.; it was built by Vaudoyer, in a mixed Byzantine and Romanesque style, in 1852–93. Adjacent is the Old Cathedral of St. Lazare, which is shown by the sacristan of the new church.
From the Place de la Major the Esplanade de la Tourette leads to the S. to the *Vieux Port (Pl. C, D, 4, 5), the Lakydon of the Phocæans, a deeply indented creek, where smaller craft only are now berthed. The entrance to it is guarded by the old forts of Grasse-Tilly and Entrecasteaux. Just inside the entrance the harbour is crossed by the Pont Transbordeur or Transporter Bridge (p. [120]); for the sake of the view we may ascend either to the trolley-way (buffet-restaurant) or to the top of the N. tower (steps up and down 50 c.; lift up 60, up and down 75 c.).
On the N. side of the Quai du Port (Pl. C, D, 4), the scene of motley popular traffic (pickpockets not uncommon), lies the Old Town, with its narrow and dirty streets, inhabited by the lower classes, including numerous Italians of whom the city contains about 100,000. This quay leads past the Hôtel de Ville (Pl. C, 4), an interesting building of the 17th cent., to the E. end of the Vieux Port, where begins the—
*Rue Cannebière (Pl. D, E, 4), which for ages has been the chief boast of the city. Here, on the left, is the Bourse (Pl. E, 4), erected by Coste in 1852–60.
This street, prolonged by the Rue Noailles, the Allées de Meilhan, etc., intersects the city from S.W. to N.E., and at the Cours St. Louis (Pl. E, 4), the chief centre of traffic, it is crossed by a straight line of streets running from N.W. to S.E., the Cours Belsunce, Rue de Rome, and Promenade du Prado, to the Rond Point (p. [122]), being in all nearly 3 M. long.
The Rue Noailles (Pl. E, 4), from the end of which the Boulevard Dugommier ascends to the railway-station, and the pretty Allées de Meilhan (Pl. F, 4) lead to the modern-Gothic church of St. Vincent de Paul (Pl. F, 3), with its two towers commanding a great part of the city.