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Centre de la Vieille Charite Review

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Centre de la Vieille Charité

Address: 2 rue de la Charité, Le Panier, Marseille
Phone: 04-91-14-58-80

Center of the Old Charity

Category: Museums/Galleries
Location: Marseille

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Fodor's Review:

Built between 1671 and 1749 and designed by Pierre and Jean Puget, this delightful complex, originally constructed as a shelter for the poor, has beautiful open balconies on three stories nestled around a courtyard. Dominated by a magnificent Baroque chapel with a novel oval-shaped dome, the inner court offers an interesting retreating perspective of the triple arcades. The salon de thé (tearoom) serves drinks and light meals alfresco under the lovely arches.

Renovated and reopened as a cultural center in 1986, the former chapel houses temporary exhibitions. Further along are two excellent museums. The larger is the Musée d'Archéologie Méditerranéenne (Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology), with a superb collection of archaeological finds from the Mediterranean and Provence, including a sizable collection of ceramics, bronzes, funeral stelae, statues from ancient Greece, and Roman glassware. It also has the most important Egyptian collection in France outside of Paris. Along with mummified people, cats, and flowers, there are plenty of hieroglyphics and gorgeous sarcophagi in evocative tomb-like surroundings. The Musée d'Arts Africains, Océaniens et Amérindiens (Museum of African, Oceanian, and American Indian Art) has artifacts from Africa, the Pacific, and the Americas. The spectacular masks and sculptures—including some rather tastefully engraved human skulls—are mounted along a black wall, eerie with indirect lighting. Labels and explanations are across the aisle.

Cost: EUR 2 per museum
Open: May-Sept., Tues.-Sun. 11-6; Oct.-Apr., Tues.-Sun. 10-5

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