About
Motto: Actibus immensis urbs fulget Massiliensis – By her great deeds, the city of Massilia shines
Marseille, the oldest city in France, dates back to 600 BC. Its history takes us back in time to the Greek sailors from Phocea who discovered the narrow cove opening on to the Mediterranean. The new conquerors founded Massalia and called its natural port the Lacydon. It was to become a major trading center.
Marseille’s story has been written and enacted in the tract of water between East and West where it has sometimes been shaken by the ground swells…
Over the centuries, 111 localities have been formed (now grouped into 16 districts and 8 sectors), and given Marseille its place names.
These localities are also 111 villages: some of them still claim their foreign origins, "those who arrived by sea". They express the city’s cultures, perpetuate their sometimes legendary traditions and are still attached to the past by history, as by an umbilical cord.
Many have tried to win the heart of Marseille, daughter of the Mediterranean, but few understand her!
