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Key figures

Origin and history

The Palais de la Bourse de Marseille, located on the Canebière in the Belsunce district, was designed to meet the growing needs of the local Chamber of Commerce. By 1834 the decision to build a new building was made, but the choice of location divided the merchants. Some favoured a site near the town hall, while others, such as Sebastien Berteaut, secretary of the Chamber, argued for a central location on the Canebière, considered more symbolic for the Marseille trade.

After the Revolution of 1848, a study commission was established in 1850 to validate the project. The architect Pascal Coste, appointed in 1849, proposed a building aligned with the Canebière, facing the Place de la République. The decree of public utility, signed by Louis Napoléon Bonaparte in 1851, allowed the start of work after the expropriation of 65 buildings. The first stone was symbolically laid in 1852, but the works did not begin until 1854, entrusted to the entrepreneur Louis Rabatu.

The construction faced major technical challenges, including water arrivals and a clay basement near the old harbour horn. Special foundations with wooden piles and puzzolan concrete were needed. The metal frames, innovative for the time, were made by a Parisian specialist, Roussel. Despite these obstacles, the building was completed in 1860 and inaugurated by Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie on September 10, marking a major political and economic event.

The palace was blessed by Bishop Eugene de Mazenod on September 25, 1860, but the exact date of its commissioning remains unknown due to the partial destruction of the archives during a fire in 1944. In 1870, a riot caused the destruction of the statue of Napoleon III in the lobby. During the Second World War, the building suffered damage during the 1944 fighting: German shells, fire, and floods damaged the ceiling and the clock, which was restarted only in 1946.

Today, the Palais de la Bourse still houses the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI AMP). He also hosted the Musée de la Marine from 1934 to 2019, before its controversial closing in 2019, then a restaurant opened in 2020. In April 2022, it remains an architectural and economic symbol of Marseille, combining heritage and modernity.

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