Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure known as La Major

Why is it significant?

Step onto the wide stone esplanade of Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure, affectionately called La Major by the people of Marseille.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step onto the wide stone esplanade of Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure, affectionately called La Major by the people of Marseille. Constructed between 1852 and 1893 under successive architects Léon Vaudoyer, Jacques Henri Espérandieu, and Henri Antoine Révoil, this colossal basilica proclaims the nineteenth-century merchant wealth of Marseille as the gateway to the French colonial empire. Extending one hundred forty meters in length with cupolas soaring seventy meters high, it ranks among the largest cathedrals built in western Europe since the Middle Ages. Its distinctive exterior features alternating bands of white Carrara marble and green Florentine limestone, evoking the Tuscan cathedrals of Siena and Pisa fused with the Byzantine splendor of Constantinople. Beside this nineteenth-century giant rest the precious Romanesque remains of the Old Major, an eleventh-century cathedral partially dismantled to accommodate the new foundation. High domes silhouette boldly against the open sea where gulls circle on the mistral winds. Gleaming polished marble reflects sunlight bouncing off the harbor docks below. The basilica served as a beacon to steamships arriving from Africa and Asia, celebrating the faith and commercial supremacy of the Mediterranean port. Ocean liners and naval vessels hailed these majestic striped towers as their first sight of France. The vast marble vaults echo with solemn grandeur, creating an unforgettable impression of monumental French religious architecture.

Enter the vast interior: shimmering Venetian-style gold mosaics and polychrome marble revetments blanket thousands of square meters of lofty vaults.

Prince-President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, soon to become Emperor Napoleon III, personally laid the foundation stone in September 1852 during a state visit.

The sanctuary preserves the ornate marble tomb of Saint Eugène de Mazenod, beloved nineteenth-century bishop of Marseille and founder of the Oblate fathers.

Walk south along the waterfront esplanade past the arched vaults of the cathedral toward the filigree cube of the MuCEM.