The story of Le Panier
Le Panier stands on the hill where the Greeks founded Massalia around 600 BC, so it is the oldest inhabited part of France's oldest city. For centuries it was the home of sailors, fishermen and newcomers from across the Mediterranean, from Italy, Corsica and North Africa.
In 1943 the German occupiers dynamited the neighbourhood below it along the harbour, but the upper Panier survived. At its heart is La Vieille Charité, a 17th-century almshouse designed by Pierre Puget around a domed chapel, which now holds museums of archaeology and world art.
