The reality of Marseille, with its secret life and scarred beauty,
has little in common with its sulphurous reputation. Its
inhabitants, who like to keep themselves and their city's true
character to themselves, prefer it that way. A taste for
independence has been part of the city's nature and history from
the beginnings 2,600 years ago; since then it has only been part of
France for the past 600, and for much of that time unwillingly.
Ringed on three sides by steep hills and by the sea on the fourth,
Marseille resembles an island, and soon gives to incoming migrants
a Marseillais identity, separating them both from their multiple
origins and from the French of the surrounding mainland. Founded as
a Greek trading station, the city has traded always, favouring the
transit of goods by sea and land over industrialisation; as a
result the twentieth-century recession of sea traffic and partial
closure of the docks can make Marseille appear neglected,
dishevelled, and under-employed as a great port and historical
centre. The appearance is deceptive; Marseille is a ceaselessly
changing and culturally ever-creative fusion of peoples--rich and
poor, black, brown and white, a population, according to the
novelist Blaise Cendrars, that remains 'insolent, happy to be
alive, and more independent than ever'. The Vieux-Port into which
the first Greek settlers rowed their fifty-oared ships is still the
vital centre of the city and even if less vibrantly active than in
the days of sail, it is here that the sense of the living Marseille
can be grasped. Moreover, the Euromediterranee project and the
naming of Marseille as cultural capital of Europe in 2013 have
together brought in massive capital transfusions to a process of
urban rehabilitation which is continuing. David Crackanthorpe
explores the striking architecture of Marseille's monuments, the
remains of Greek and Roman docks and wall, the islands of the gulf
and the magnificent coast, the city's distinctive language, food
and popular culture. With all the disfigurements it has suffered,
Marseille remains one of the world's most unique cities and its
site among the most splendid.
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