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- After much was written about, these walls, a long time a political issue between an uncompromising minister and a mayor, have finally found the peace they were entitled to.

- These ruins are not ordinary. And although the mercantile concrete has replaced a large part, what remains his important for the understanding of Marseille history,

- a city that already 25 centuries ago could compete with the most prestigious cities of the ancient world, that is to say the whole world.

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- The ancient city, which corresponds to the time of these walls, was a city, it is true, very very large, the size of Carthage and Rome, that is to say 60, 80, 90 hectares.

- And today, this part is still probably the most important because it is the end of the port, this is the entrance to the city. And I think that this is very important because of this.

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- Two long successive periods are visible to insiders in this maze of foundations and walls. The Greek period, that of Massilia, and the Roman period, that of Massalia.

- The Greek period, as we can see it on the site, it is the walls and mainly from the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.

- While the Roman period, it is the port, and also the second rampart which came to reinforce the Greek wall. And there are nearly seven centuries between.

- But in seven centuries the architecture style has not changed much whereas now, unfortunately, it changes a lot.

- We have a bit the impression that apart from the fact that stones are a little older, it's the same style, it's the same way to work, right?

- Certainly, it is the same kind of large scale stone construction. These are very large blocks.

- They may be a bit smaller in Roman times compared to the Greek era but this is a small difference compared to the differences we see in today's buildings.

- So these stones are very well preserved. I think you even tried to restore some walls, that is to say to find the rubblestones to give more importance to these walls.

- How high were they?

- Well, these walls which are behind here were probably at least 10 meters high. There are currently 3 meters.

- And these walls were very very thick walls since the wall at the end, which was almost entirely reconstituted, is a rampart which was more than 2 meters thick at the base.

- And in 1904, when the first buildings of la Bourse site were demolished, we discover at this place a wall that is still 9 meters high.

- So a city well protected?

- Very well protected. It was doubtless one of the key elements of the city, because of its economy the city had to live and thus to protect itself from external attacks.

- And even along the harbor there is a rampart wall, and on the dock. A bit like cities of the Adriatic or some Roman cities of antiquity.

- So a well protected city is a rich city, right?

- It is a city where doubtless there is a great potential. Marseille and unlike other cities of antiquity was not a city of exceptional refinement

- but a strong city where people invested in boats, in commerce, in trade and in that sense, yes, it was a wealth that had to be protected.

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- The port corner must have been one of the busiest place in this part of the city. Here were the watering and the Italy Road, later Rome Road.

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- So we have the impression that for such an important and great city this port is not very large.

- And yet there were vessels of 35 meters long that were coming inside. How is it possible?

- Well, we can say that this port, that was 4 meters deep, of course grew larger as we approached the high seas,

- and here it is the end of the harbor where of course there are docks, but as today, these docks were spread over several hundred meters and along the ramparts.

- And there is an area, I think they called it the watering, it was a pool of freshwater and mariners came during their stopover to fill their barrels.

- Indeed there is behind a large freshwater pool supplied by the waters coming from the east of the city.

- From the Cannebière?

- From the Canebière, waters that come down from the Longchamp hill. And this pool was used for supplying.

- We still have traces of a water wheel which probably allowed to supply the crews who came and stayed in Marseille,

- sometimes waiting a long time before getting into the city, especially when there were problems with diseases.

- But the city does not stop here, unlike what we believed during a long time.

- To the north and east there are still important parts, it is the Carmes mound and so on, that are currently being demolished by the way, and where we found a lot of things.

- Yes, of course. The Carmes mound is still part of the first city in a way, the typical ancient city.

- But far beyond that, we found a number of funerary items, sarcophagi, inscriptions, sculptures near walkways of Léon Gambetta, as we can still find some in St.Victore,

- as we find some much further on the Italy Road along the coast.

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- The excavations which continued for more than 10 years brought some wonderful discoveries, as these remains of a boat that is going to be refurbished.

- Specialists have found a new method, lyophilization, which removes any moisture in wood.

- This hull refurbished will be the centerpiece of the History Museum of Marseille that will be established by the end of the year on the ground floor of Centre Bourse.

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- This museum that took the place of the House of Culture, which was supposed to be here before the beginning of work, is a museum that will include an open-air area on one hand,

- this site that the city set up, and on the other hand there will be a covered area within which there will be a presentation of the activities developed on the site,

- presented through models, objects and reconstituted scenes of ancient life.

- And this presentation should allow not only to experience the ancient Marseille, but at the same time to present everything that today still participates in the greatness of Marseille,

- that is to say a confrontation between this ancient city and the one of the year 2000, that turned into something else for a long time and that today presents a quite amazing picture.

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- Completed three months ago, the garden of Vestiges, set up with taste, quickly became for many people from Marseille a promenade but also a place for reflection.

- Yes I’m from Marseille. Yes, yes.

- So do you have any emotion when you see this old town?

- Oh, really this old city, it has been really well set up. And I think it's great.

- You come to walk here?

- I come whenever I have errands to do, I come, I stop for a moment. It relaxes me, it makes me happy.

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- Some people remember the neighborhood that was here 50 years ago on this square crossed by the Roman Road that saw the legions of Caesar passing

- and many vicissitudes before finally getting the soothing status of public garden.

- It was a neighborhood that was a maze of very old streets that were once between two walls. And it was a neighborhood of narrow streets but full of stories.

- Here you have Saint-Martin church where Daumier was baptized. Behind it was Pierre-qui-Rage street, and it was a fountain which supplied the pool of water in the past.

- This fountain certainly recounted the memory of a ghetto.

- You have different landscapes of Marseille: Straight Street there, well, it has long been the exit of the old town, because at that time we were going out from the street of Aubagne.

- Yes because here, on this paved road we were on the Italy Road.

- We were on the Italy Road. There were two gates, if you want. The gate of Italy here and Porta Gallica, the Joliette.

- But here you go out to go to Italy, but through the streets of Aubagne, Notre-Dame-du-Mont, which was deserted, the path of Briquet that is currently Lodi Street,

- St. Vincent street and then the long road of Toulon, going to the current Toulon, the connection has been made only in 1865.

- And there are also extraordinary, extravagant street names. It was the heated streets right?

- Oh the heated streets! You know the Paved-with-love street was there, it is a good name because that street Pavé d’amour was a seamy street, or maybe rather a sexy street.

- You have Requis-Novis street which recounts the memory of an ancient troubadour. You have Pyramide street evoking a rather tragic memory.

- It was in memory of the revolt of 1661 and of Glandevès Niozelles. Glandevès Niozelles fled to escape from Louis XIV.

- So Louis XIV ordered to destroy his house and to build a pyramid with the remains. And this Pyramide name, although Glandevès Niozelles was later pardoned, has been retained.

- At the Church of St. Martin a terrible murder happened in the 14th, a priest murdered a canon. This is a very old criminal story from Marseille. There are lots of things in this area.

- But so this neighborhood has not been lucky because it has been destroyed several times. The last time was after the war?

- So the last time was in 1937. It started to be destroyed in 82. And then in 1912 we used remains to build a nursery school that is behind,

- and it was when we found the wall of Crinas which is the first vestige we have excavated.

- And then finally we had a round of fences that lasted for years and it was only in 1937 that the neighborhood has been really destroyed, and then remained as a car park during...

- Ah bah there was also the garden of Tasso which was very beautiful!

- With fountains of the Lique that… but it didn’t last long, this garden has not been lucky.

- Indeed, no luck.

- It disappeared very quickly. Then there were even dumps of the Department of Reconstruction for a moment. It was terrible by the way. So it took then practically...

- Yes, it remained a car park for a long time. We could even see where were the trees before, which shown there were oldest squares on that space before.

- So what do you think now about this development? For an old person from Marseille...

- Really, at first I was afraid. You know I do not regret the old quarter. With few exceptions, there was nothing historical here.

- There were some old memories we could talk about but I find that here it’s very nice and that it has been well developed.

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- We now have to learn lessons from this rich and tumultuous past.

- Marseille remained a crossroads of peoples, races, civilizations, cultures where 2800 years ago accosted an Aegean galley commanded by a handsome captain, Protis.

- We know what follows. History or legend, the result is here and we are in charge to preserve its memory, and why not its pride.

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