About
If the palate of Pharo offers an auditorium of nine hundred places, ten conference rooms, two living rooms Napoleonean, a gigantic hall of exposure, and a space of restoration worthy of the greatest ceremonies, it is paradoxically not the aspect gravitational, ready to motivate the visitors to discover this true “residence the feet in water” to plagiarize the remarks of Napoleon. Because the stake of discovered of this exceptional site is rather of an aesthetic and voluptuous nature: How the directions can remain insensitive to this jewel left straight of imagination a Parisian architect - what to rectify the out of date stereotypes - which made it possible in Marseilles to offer to the second French emperor the residence at the seaside, that it hoped for so much and so much to acquire. Offering an exceptional panorama, the palate rests on a rock plate where only snap rings and marine grasses pushed.

Gifted to Napoleon III by Marseilles, this area of land - set on the Maure promontory overlooking the Château d'If (famous for its prison) and the entrance to the Vieux-Port - enabled the emperor to fulfil his plans for a waterfront residence.

Built since 1858 at the request of the emperor Napoleon III, the palate of Pharo was to be the reflection of the residence of the empress in Biarritz, “a dwelling which would have the feet in water”, according to words' of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. Ultimately, nobody never resided at it, and the empress ends up offering it to the town of Marseilles in 1903.

Schedules
Monday - Sunday 08:00 - 22:00 Access to the gardens

Transport
Bus

81 - Pharo - Subway Saint-Just (81)
83M° Bougainville - M° RpPrado (83)