Numerous historic monument protections in Marseille

Long underprotected, Marseille has recently benefited from numerous historic monument designations, with more to come, as Rachida Dati recently announced. This is a happy coincidence of several good intentions, as if the planets were finally aligning: firstly, a municipality that is keen to better protect its heritage and has given the green light to the classification of monuments belonging to it; secondly, a regional historic monuments conservation authority that has been driving this issue for several years; thirdly, an "Architecte des Bâtiments de France" who is also active in this field; and finally, a Minister of Culture who is very supportive of heritage and has made a commitment to this issue. We also know that after Marseille, several Parisian monuments should benefit – in addition to the future conservation areas (see article 12481) – from her attention [1].
Let’s take stock of the new classifications, as the Ministry of Culture will announce tomorrow morning [2] that:

– The Cathedral Saint-Marie Majeure (ill. 1), better known as the "Nouvelle Major", although classified since 1906, will see its protection extended to include the enclosure gate designed by Henri Antoine Revoil, the architect who succeeded Léon Vaudoyer and Jacques Henri Espérandieu, his predecessors on the cathedral site, who died in quick succession in 1872 and 1874.

– The Church of Sainte-Marie des Chartreux (ill. 2), listed in 2020, is now definitively classified. This is a typical example of the delay in protection that certain monuments, particularly in Marseille, have suffered. It is difficult to understand why it was not protected earlier. It is a 17th-century church, slightly remodelled in the 19th century, with an imposing classical façade that would certainly have been even more impressive if the sculptures originally planned to surmount it had been completed.

– The Hôtel de Pesciolini or Mazargues (ill. 3) was in a similar situation. It is a mansion dating from 1672-1673, whose monumental door is decorated with two Atlantean figures sculpted by an artist inspired by those of Pierre Puget in Toulon. Only this part of the building had been inscribed since 1929. It was not until 2023 that the entire mansion was inscribed, prior to its recent classification

– The Grobet-Labadié Museum, housed in a mansion built exactly two centuries after the Pesciolini mansion in 1872-1873,…