Marseille and Its Cathedral

The experience of the city of Marseille and that of Detroit are similar. Both were cities based on heavy industry, and in the last quarter of the twentieth century, both cities collapsed industrially and culturally. Both cities were riddled with crime and corruption. Now both cities are trying hard to come back. This city has experienced a successful transition from a an industrial economy to a service economy and it’s growing again. A major employer here is an aerospace company that manufactures light helicopters called the A-Star, now being bought by the hundreds by police departments and military organizations around the world. NYPD just bought 150, San Francisco has ordered 125, and the U. S. Border Patrol has ordered 150. The cargo port here and at neighboring Toulon receive a huge percentage of all of the goods imported into Europe.

We walked into Marseille’s lovely basilica today and noticed a difference between it and the high Gothic churches around Paris. Here on the southern coast of France, the influx of Muslims is no recent event. Muslims have been here since medieval times. It is not surprising, then, that the striped Mozarabic exterior of the church is characteristic of Moorish architecture. The basilica also shows traces of Greek Orthodox Christianity, since a considerable number of immigrants in ancient times came to this place from the eastern Mediterranean. Interestingly, one community of Franks who had settled in Asia Minor came here when defeated by Muslim hordes in the eighth century. This place is like Disney World for one interested in history. It is a rich and vibrant community that is working hard for a prosperous future. From everything we saw they are already entering the best of times.Read more