Le Panier carries the weight of its history lightly.  The three small hills of the quartier have been inhabited continually since Marseille was founded here by Greek settlers in 600BC.  In time medieval churches were built on the foundations of Greek temples and buildings of four or five stories replaced earlier houses.

In the seventeenth century the bourgeoisie deserted the old town, moving to the grand new squares and boulevards on the south side of the port.  The narrow, stepped streets of Le Panier were left to fisherman, seafarers and successive waves of new arrivals from Italy, from Corsica and later from the Comoros.  It’s unlikely that many of these people would have completely rebuilt a house from the ground, more likely that repairs and alterations gradually adapted buildings surviving from earlier times.  As in so many old urban areas the buildings of today are a practical patchwork of foundations, walls, doorways and windows reaching back across the centuries.

 

No clues here
There’s a shop door hidden in this mural by Nhobi but these photos were taken on a Sunday morning
14 rue des Muettes has moved with the times – it’s now a charging station for compact electric vehicles
The side door to La Strega is a restaurant serving Corsican food – ‘strega’ means ‘witch’ in both Italian and Corsican
This portrait in this ancient doorway and the one in the headline image are the work of local artist Manyoly
Les Enfants du Panier (dressed in the strip of local team l’Olympique de Marseille) hide an old double door
A blue door and a yellow pun by Nhobi – Marseille – June 2018
A recent renovation at 25 rue Saint-Antoine and a smart cubist paint job on the sliding door

 

(Click on any door to view the gallery)

A post for Thursday Doors.