III.

Places of Interest

In the bay fronting Marseille are several islands, including the islet of If, site of the 16th-century Château d'If, featured in Alexandre Dumas's romance The Count of Monte-Cristo. Several forts protect the harbour, 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. 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 St Victor was built in the 13th century, is an image of the Virgin Mary supposed to have been the work of 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.