Marseille (Greek Massalia; Latin Massilia), city in southern France, capital of Bouches-du-Rhône Department, on the Gulf of Lion (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea). The second largest city of France after Paris, it is a major seaport and an important commercial and industrial center. The city is linked by canal with the Rhône River and is served by extensive rail and air transport facilities; the large petroleum port of Fos, chiefly developed in the 1970s, is nearby. Manufactures of the Marseille metropolitan area include iron and steel, chemicals, plastic and metal products, ships, refined petroleum, construction materials, soap, and processed food.
In the bay fronting Marseille are several islands, including the islet of If, site of the 16th-century Château d'If, mentioned in The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), by the French novelist Alexandre Dumas père. Several forts protect the harbor, and on a high strip of land projecting west into the bay is the 19th-century Church of Notre Dame de la Garde, surmounted by a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary. The main shopping district is along a broad boulevard called the Canebière. Marseille has few relics of the ancient period, although it is the oldest city in France. In the late 1960s archaeologists uncovered parts of the Hellenistic ramparts of the city, and a section of the medieval Cathedral of La Major still stands. In the 11th-century crypts, over which the Church of Saint Victor was built in the 13th century, is an image of the Virgin Mary supposed to have been done by St. Luke. Educational and cultural facilities in the city include the universities of Aix-Marseille I and II (1970) and museums of archaeology, shipping, and fine arts.
