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Origin and history

The so-called monument of the mosque of the arsenal of galeries, or mosque of the Turkish galerians, is located in Valbelle Park, in the 8th arrondissement of Marseille. Long considered a vestige of the ancient mosque of the Ottoman Galerian cemetery, built in the early eighteenth century for Turkish slaves and forçats, it would then have been transformed into a kiosk. However, recent studies suggest that it is in reality a private chapel built in 1927 by industrialist Paul Rouvière, from the remains of a villa destroyed in 1926, itself from the "Kiosque Bonaparte", an oriental guinguette built in 1860-1861.

A Muslim cemetery, created between 1691 and 1698 near Sainte Street, was transferred between 1723 and 1725 into a space containing a mosque, a well and a hangar for funeral devotions. According to 18th century sources, this set was intended for Turkish slaves of the galleys, who prayed there. In 1792, the artillery arsenal gradually occupied the site, despite local protests.

This monument, inscribed in the historical monuments in 1965, symbolizes the memory of the Turkish Galerians, of whom nearly 25,000 were buried in the adjacent cemetery between 1680 and 1748. It recalls the history of the 5,594 Turks registered on the galleys between 1682 and 1707, as well as the extreme living conditions of these forçats, described by historian André Zysberg as "greater rotten men of France".

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