Timeline of Marseille

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Marseille, France.

Prior to 17th century

• 600 BCE - Massalia founded by Phocaean Greeks (approximate date).
• 49 BCE - Siege of Massilia.
• 1st C. CE - Roman Catholic diocese of Marseille established.
• ca.290 - Martyrdom of Victor of Marseilles an Egyptian Christian martyr.
• 415 - Abbey of St. Victor founded (approximate date).
• 470 - Town taken by forces of Visigoth Euric.
• 6th C. - Port in operation.
• 839 - Town "sacked by Saracens."
• 1214
  • Town becomes a republic.
  • Notre-Dame de la Garde built.
• 1252 - Town "taken by Charles of Anjou."
• 1262 - Revolt against Angevins.
• 1348 - Bubonic plague outbreak.
• 1365 - Abbey of St. Victor building constructed.
• 1409 - Aix-Marseille University founded.
• 1423 - Sack of Marseille by the forces of Aragón, led by Alfonso V.
• 1453 - Fortifications constructed.
• 1481 - Marseille united with Provence.
• 1486 - Marseille becomes part of France.
• 1524 - Town besieged by forces of Francis I.
• 1531 - Château d'If built.
• 1542 - Église Saint-Ferréol les Augustins (church) dedicated.
• 1593 - Hotel Dieu (hospital) founded.
• 1599 - Marseille Chamber of Commerce founded.

17th-18th centuries

• 1619 - Église Saint-Cannat (church) dedicated.
• 1640 - Maison du Refuge established.
• 1649 - Plague.
• 1660 - Fort Saint-Jean built.
• 1672 - Café in business.
• 1673 - Marseille City Hall built.
• 1685 - The Opéra de Marseille is inaugurated.
• 1702 - Marseille Observatory built.
• 1720-21 - Great Plague of Marseille.
• 1726 - Academy of Science established.
• 1749 - Almshouse built.
• 1770 - City directory published.
• 1778
  • Chateau Borely built.
  • Fossati fountain erected.
• 1781 - Navette de Marseille created.
• 1787 - Grand-Théâtre opens.
• 1789 - April: "Revolutionary commotions" occur.
• 1790
  • Marseille becomes part of the Bouches-du-Rhône souveraineté.
  • Jacobin Club founded.
• 1793 - August: "Marseilles opposes the revolutionary government, and is reduced."
• 1796 - Public library founded.

19th century

1800s–1840s

• 1800 - Population: 96,413.
• 1801
  • Canton of Marseille-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 created.
  • Musée des beaux-arts de Marseille founded.
• 1802 - Lycée Thiers (school) and Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel (garden) established.
• 1803
  • Santon Fair begins.
  • Cabinet of Natural History founded.
• 1808 - 26 February: Birth of Honoré Daumier.
• 1810 - Société de médecine de Marseille established.
• 1811 - Obelisk erected in the Place Castellane.
• 1819 - Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille founded.
• 1820 - Population: 101,217.
• 1827
  • Le Sémaphore newspaper begins publication.
  • Société de statistique de Marseille established.[1]
• 1836 - Population: 148,597.
• 1837 - Porte d'Aix (arch) inaugurated.
• 1846 - Journal de Marseille newspaper begins publication.
• 1848
  • Paris–Marseille railway begins operating.
  • Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles opens.
• 1849 - Canal de Marseille opens (97 miles long).

1850s-1890s

• 1851
  • Messageries Maritimes shipping company in business.
  • Population: 195,258.
• 1852 - Prison Chave built on Boulevard Chave.
• 1853 - La Joliette dock constructed.
• 1854 - Jardin zoologique de Marseille (zoo) opens.
• 1855 - Phare de Sainte Marie built.
• 1856
  • Population: 233,817.
  • Cimetière Saint-Pierre established.
• 1857 - Alcazar (Marseille) theatre opens.
• 1858
  • Marseille–Ventimiglia railway begins initial operation.
  • Palais du Pharo built.
• 1860
  • Exchange built.
  • Race track in business.
• 1862 - Marseille Courthouse built.
• 1863 - Great Synagogue of Marseille built.
• 1864
  • Rue de la République (Marseille) opens.
  • Notre-Dame de la Garde rebuilt.
• 1865 - Société Marseillaise de Crédit (bank) and Priory of St. Madeleine founded.
• 1866 - Population: 300,131.
• 1868 - Le Petit Marseillais newspaper begins publication.
• 1869 - Palais Longchamp completed.
• 1872 - Business school established.
• 1876
  • Le Petit Provençal newspaper begins publication.
  • Horse-drawn tram begins operating.
• 1877 - Société de géographie de Marseille established.[2]
• 1878 - Saint-Lazare Convent consecrated.
• 1881
  • Italian-French ethnic unrest.
  • Population: 360,099.
• 1883 - Marseille coat of arms design adopted.
• 1884 - Marseille cholera epidemic.
• 1885 - Soleil du Midi newspaper begins publication.
• 1891 - École d'ingénieurs de Marseille (school) founded.
• 1892 - Funicular of the Notre-Dame de la Garde church begins operating.
• 1893
  • Marseille Cathedral consecrated.
  • Institut Colonial de Marseille founded.
• 1894 - Monument des Mobiles erected.^(fr)
• 1897 - Excursionnistes Marseillais (hiking club) formed.
• 1899
  • Olympique de Marseille soccer team formed.
  • 2500th anniversary of founding of Marseille.

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1901
  • "Dock strike."
  • Population: 491,161.
• 1902 - "Strike of sailors."
• 1903
  • July: 1903 Tour de France cycling race passes through Marseille.
  • September: Bubonic plague outbreak.
• 1906
  • Exposition coloniale de Marseille (1906) held.
  • Population: 517,498.
• 1909
  • "Tigeress escapes; terrorises the town."
  • Société linnéenne de Provence founded.
• 1911 - Population: 550,619.
• 1913 - Fountain installed in the Place Castellane.
• 1916 - Musée Cantini founded.
• 1917 - Le Petit Nice restaurant in business.
• 1919 - 13 November: Grand Théâtre burns down.^(fr)
• 1922
  • Marseille Provence Airport opens.
  • Colonial exhibition held.
• 1923 - Monument aux héros et victimes de la mer erected.
• 1924 - Opera House built.
• 1926 - Musée Grobet-Labadié opens.
• 1927 - Monument aux morts de l'Armée d'Orient et des terres lointaines erected.
• 1931 - Population: 800,881.
• 1933 - Film Studios Pagnol established.
• 1934 - October 9: King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou assassinated by Bulgarian terrorist Velicko Kerin.
• 1936 - Population: 914,232.
• 1937 - Stade Vélodrome opens.
• 1938
  • 21 September: Marseille train robbery.
  • 28 October: Marseille fire (1938).
• 1939 - Baumettes Prison built.
• 1940 - Bombing by German and Italian forces.
• 1941 - Combat (French Resistance) active.
• 1942 - November: German occupation begins.
• 1943 - Old Port area evacuated and demolished.
• 1944
  • Bombing by Allied forces.
  • August: Battle of Marseille; German occupation ends.
  • La Marseillaise newspaper in publication.
  • Gaston Defferre becomes mayor.
• 1946
  • Arrondissements of Marseille created.
  • Jean Cristofol becomes mayor.
• Population: 636,264.
• 1947
  • November: Labor unrest.
  • Michel Carlini becomes mayor.

1950s-1990s

• 1952 - Cité radieuse housing complex built.
• 1953
  • Gaston Defferre becomes mayor again (remains in office until 1986).
  • La Tourette housing complex built.
• 1955 - Affaire du Combinatie vendetta killings of the criminal Marseille milieu occur.
• 1958 - Marseille twinned with Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire; Antwerp, Belgium; Copenhagen, Denmark; Genoa, Italy; Haifa, Israel; and Hamburg, Germany.
• 1960s - La Castellane neighborhood built.
• 1961 - Marseille twinned with Kobe, Japan.
• 1962
  • A50 autoroute opens.
  • Or Thora Synagogue established.
  • Population: 778,071.
• 1965 - March: Marseille municipal election, 1965 held.
• 1967 - Marseille Old Port Tunnel opens.
• 1968
  • A7 autoroute opens.
  • Marseille twinned with Dakar, Senegal.
  • Population: 889,029.
• 1970 - University of Provence established.
• 1972
  • A55 autoroute opens.
  • Ballet National de Marseille founded.
  • Marseille twinned with Odesa, Ukraine.
• 1973 - 14 December: Algerian consulate bombed.
• 1975
  • Er Rahmaniyyà group formed.
  • Population: 908,600.
• 1977
  • Marseille Metro Line 1 begins operating.
  • CMA CGM shipping company established.
• 1979 - Marseille-Cassis Classique Internationale footrace begins.
• 1981 - Rodéo (riot).
• 1982
  • PLM Law effected.
  • Marseille becomes part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region.
• 1983
  • SNCF TGV Sud-Est train begins operating.
  • Marseille History Museum opens.
• 1984
  • Marseille Metro Line 2 begins operating.
  • Marseille twinned with Piraeus, Greece.
• 1986
  • March: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election, 1986 held.
  • Robert Vigouroux becomes mayor.
• 1987
  • Jardin de la Magalone becomes property of the city.
  • Marseille twinned with Shanghai, China.
• 1989 - Marseille Festival of Documentary Film begins.
• 1991 - La Commanderie opens.
• 1993 - Tunnel Prado-Carénage opens.
• 1995
  • June: Marseille municipal election, 1995 held.
  • Jean-Claude Gaudin becomes mayor.
  • Centre de Recherche et de Documentation sur l'Océanie founded.
  • Musée de la Faïence de Marseille opens.
• 1997 - La Provence newspaper in publication.
• 1999 - Population: 795,518.

21st century

2000s

• 2001
  • Parc du 26e Centenaire inaugurated.
  • Municipal Archives of Marseille moves to the former Tobacco factory of Marseille.
• 2004 - Marseille twinned with Marrakech, Morocco.
• 2006
  • École centrale de Marseille created.
  • Marseille twinned with Glasgow, UK.
• 2007
  • Marseille tramway begins operating.
  • Labor strike.
  • Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor begins in Cadarache, in vicinity of Marseille.
• 2008 - Population: 851,420.
• 2009 - Collège Ibn Khaldoun opens.

2010s

• 2010
  • March: Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election, 2010 held.
  • Garbage strike occurs.
• 2011
  • Population: 850,636.
• 2012 - Place des Capucines pedestrianized.
• 2013
  • Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations opens.
  • City designated a European Capital of Culture.
• 2014 - March: Marseille municipal election, 2014 held.
• 2015
  • 9 February: Shooting occurs in La Castellane.
  • September: Drug ring trial begins.
  • December: 2015 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regional election held.
  • Marseille tramway Line 3 begins operating.
  • Cantons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 created per 2014 France cantonal redistricting.
• 2016 - Metropolis of Aix-Marseille-Provence established.
• 2017 - Stabbing occurs in Saint Charles train station.
• 2018 - Two buildings collapse in the center of Marseille eight people are killed.

See also

• History of Marseille
• Urban planning in Marseille
• List of mayors of Marseille
• List of mayors of Marseille sectors
• List of heritage sites in Marseille
• History of Provence region
• Timeline of Provence region

Other cities in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region:

• Timeline of Aix-en-Provence
• Timeline of Arles
• Timeline of Avignon
• Timeline of Nice
• Timeline of Toulon