The museum of History of Marseilles whose imposing architecture sits on the site of the garden of the Vestiges offers to curiosity visitors the history of the city phocéenne of 600 front J.C., date of its creation, until our days. It is on the excavations organized in 1967, which transfer the discovery of the architectural vestiges of times Greek and Roman - Greek ramparts, a necropolis, wells, basins and installations harbour - that the museum was born. These lucky finds which devote the most moved back times which saw the genesis of the city are offered to the public, as those which saw the meeting between Phocéens and Ligurians, town planning, the maritime trade and the funerary rites of Massalia or the first centuries of Christendom (IVe-VIIe century).

The collections include/understand part of the vestiges put at the day on the building site of the Stock Exchange, in particular the wreck of a ship dating from IIe century and the objects coming from the various sites excavated in Marseilles with XIXe and XXe centuries. An extension of the museum will see developing the last two centuries the recent heritage which make modern Marseilles. The curious neophytes or the aficionados will always be able while waiting to seal their thirst to know by visiting the library and the video library for the museum richly equipped with some 16.000 documentary works and 600 films.

There's a recovered wreck of a Roman cargo boat, its 3rd-century wood amazingly preserved, and the hull of a Greek boat dating from the 4th century BC. And that model of the Greek city should be authentic -- it's based on the eyewitness description of Aristotle.

COST: EUR3 includes entry into Jardin des Vestiges.
OPEN: June-Sept., Mon.-Sat. 10-7; Oct.-May., Tues.-Sun. 10-5.