Palais du Pharo

During his visits to Marseille, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte expressed the wish to have a residence there. Once emperor, from 1858 he had a palace built for Empress Eugénie on the promontory overlooking the harbour entrance, designed by Samuel Vaucher and revised by Hector Lefuel, in the spirit of the Villa Eugénie in Biarritz. Yet the imperial couple never really stayed there.

Owned by the city, the palace now hosts conferences and events, and the interior cannot be visited. The Jardin du Pharo, however, is open to all: its sloping lawns offer an exceptional panorama over the Old Port, Fort Saint-Jean, the Mucem and Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde, especially popular at sunset.

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