Palais Longchamp — Attraction in Marseille

One of the most popular sites in Marseille is the Longshan Palace, an impressive building built in the 19th century to honor the founding of the Marseille Canal, which brought water to the city. The palace consists of three parts, with the western part containing the Marseille Nature Museum, and the eastern part the Marseille Art Museum and the Water Castle. Certainly the Longshan Palace is one of the most impressive buildings in Marseille and France as a whole. Around the palace are wide, picnic lawns that attract both Marseille's residents and tourists. During the summer, the park around the palace hosts the International Jazz Festival, which attracts artists from around the world. We recommend spending time wandering the park and visiting museums within the palace.

Admission to museums is quite expensive.

Opening hours: from 10am to 6pm daily.

How long should you visit?...

Before visiting the palace, I did some search and learned that it was built in the 19th century, took 30 years to complete, and served as a cultural and artistic center for Marseille for many years. I also found out that the fountain in front of the palace was part of a water supply project for the city during that time. As soon as the palace came into view, its massive size caught my attention. The closer I got, the more I was impressed by the grandeur of the sculptures and the building itself. It is an impressive structure, but don’t expect the same level of artistic and architectural richness found in many European palaces. Despite its name, it was actually built as a water aqueduct monument, not a royal palace. However, if you’re in Marseille, I think it’s worth a visit. Additionally, the palace houses two museums: one dedicated to natural history and the other...

One of those places you read about in a guidebook, form an opinion and then visit and you form your own opinion. Mine is that the tagging (.I.e.) occasional graffiti in odd places make the palace authentically Marseille. A city if you don’t already know this rated France’s most dangerous and I’ll take it, as it’s also France’s best weather. The Palace itself is my favorite price (free) and walkable and funny because it was also Napoleon’s failed attempt at a New French Capital, which given the weather I can see why he tried, but having spent 12 days in Marseille? Let’s just say that Paris and Marseille have as much in common as San Francisco does to New York. France is a much smaller country, but it’s diverse and Marseille would have been a great place for the San Francisco “Beats” to write. It’s palace in...