There is a walkway outside the city centre that leads to the Cathedral of Sainte-Marie-Majeure. It is situated between the Old Port, Le Panier, and La Joliette areas. People who live there call it the Cathedral of La Major, and it’s right next to the MUCEM and the Fort Saint-Jean.

The Cathedral of the Major is what Marseille is known for because it is one of a kind and shows how powerful the city is. It’s the best spot in Marseille to pray.

It’s the only church in France that was built in the 1800s. This amazing building is about the same size as St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, so it can hold up to 3,000 people! This extravagance was meant to show how powerful the Phocaean city was, which could be seen from the sea.

This church is one of the biggest in France. It was built in the Byzantine style. It took 40 years to build, from 1852 to 1893. At that time, Marseille was France’s first port and ships from all over the world stopped there on their way to other places.

A JEWEL OF ARCHITECTURE

The old Major and the new Major churches have been put on top of each other to make the Cathedral of La Major. In front of the port, on an esplanade, it is built. It is also close to the base of the old Marseille, where religious buildings have been built since the 4th century.

There is an older church in Marseille called the Old Major. The first part of it was built in the 4th century. After the Saracens attacked in the 11th and 12th centuries, it was rebuilt. It is a Romanesque church made from pink stones that came from the quarries in La Couronne. There is a choir, a vault with a dome, and a half dome. Later, in the 1400s, the bell tower was added.

On September 26, 1852, work began on the new Cathedral of the Major. Napoleon III himself poured the first stone! It took more than 40 years to finish building it in 1893.

A Palaeo-Christian baptistery was found while the new church was being built. It was built around the year 500. The house is in the shape of a square and has beautiful mosaics all over it.

Roman and Asian styles are mixed in the Major, which opens a culture door to the East.

A bell tower and a roof are also on it. Once you get inside, you can look at the Byzantine halls, statues, and beautiful mosaics that make up its one-of-a-kind and grand architecture. The materials used are the same amount as the amount of space they take up: green stones from Florence, tiles from Venice, and onyx from Italy and Tunisia.

Seven statues under the arches show Jesus with three of his apostles (Peter, Paul, and Lazarus) and three of his students (Martha, Maximin, and Mary Magdalene). Finally, there is a statue of Monsignor de Belsunce on the esplanade. He was a famous person during the Great Plague of 1720.

During the building process, several engineers worked together. In the Romano-Byzantine style, Léon Vaudoyer, who is known as the “father of historicism,” made the Latin cross plan. Henri Esperandieu took over in 1872 and stayed in charge until 1874 when Henri Antoine Révoil finished building the church.

On November 30, 1893, he gave Bishop Jean-Louis Robert the keys for real.

The Cathedral of La Major is one of the biggest churches in the world. It is 142 metres long, its towers are 60 metres high, its nave is 20 metres high, and its central dome is 70 metres high and more than 17 metres in diameter. It tells the story of Marseille’s past and was named a historical monument in 1906.

These days, you can’t go to Marseille without taking a look at La Major.