La Canebière

Historic site and monument
Historic patrimony
Roman way

13001 Marseille 1er

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The Canebière was built in 1666 when Louis XIV gave instructions for the city to be increased in size. The name comes from the Provençal "Canebe" (hemp) and is a reminder of the rope-makers that lived in Marseille from the Middles Ages onwards.

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Only when the Grand Arsenal (shipbuilding dock) was demolished at the end of the 18th Century was the Canebière extended down to the port and fine buildings put up. A little further on was the narrow Noailles street and beyond it, outside the walls, lay the Allées de Meilhan that provided the people of Marseille with a tree-lined walk that took them past open-air cafés and dance-halls.

The Canebière was only officially extended from the Old Port to the Réformés church in 1928, thus...