Parc Borély is a public municipal park in the city of Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

, in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is classified by the French Ministry of Culture as one of the Notable Gardens of France

Notable gardens of France

The Remarkable Gardens of France is intended to be a list and description, by region, of the over two hundred gardens classified as "Jardins remarquables" by the French Ministry of Culture and the Comité des Parcs et Jardins de France...

. The park is 17 hectares in size. It adjoins the Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel

Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel

The Jardin botanique E.M. Heckel , also known as the Jardin botanique de Marseille and the Jardin botanique Borély de Marseille, is a municipal botanical garden located in the Parc Borély at 48, Avenue Clot Bey, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France...

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Description

Parc Borély has three different gardens; a Garden à la française

Garden à la française

The French formal garden, also called jardin à la française, is a style of garden based on symmetry and the principle of imposing order over nature. It reached its apogee in the 17th century with the creation of the Gardens of Versailles, designed for Louis XIV by the landscape architect André Le...

, facing the bastide, composed of a two lawns, a circular basin and a rectangual basin, and double rows of trees, between the avenue du Prado and the gates of the park:

An English landscape garden, on the west side of the park, surrounding a lake, and decorated with statues, fountain, a cascade, and a playground. It also features a miniature of the basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde

Notre-Dame de la Garde

Notre-Dame de la Garde is a basilica located in Marseille, France. This ornate Neo-Byzantine church is situated at the highest natural point in Marseille, a 162 m limestone outcrop on the south side of the Old Port. As well as being a major local landmark, it is the site of a popular annual...

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A recently renovated race track. The other two parts of the garden connect to the sea by a promenade and to the neighboring botanical garden.

History

The park was created in the 17th century by a French ship owner and merchant, Joseph Borely, who bought land for a country house in the area of Marseille called Bonneveine. The estate was enlarged in the 18th century by Joseph Borély, who constructed a bastide, or Provencal country house, on the domaine. When Louis-Joseph Borély inherited the domaine in 1770, he commissioned the landscape architect Embry to create a Garden à la française.

In the middle of the 19th century, the land passed first to Paulin Talabot, director of the new PLM railroad which connected Paris to Marseille; and then the land was acquired by the city of Marseille. The city commissioned landscape architect Adolphe Alphande to design a park with three distinct parts; a French garden, an English landscape park, and a track for horse racing by the side of the sea. A number of wooden pavilions were constructed; just one remains, the former pavilion by the lake, which had also served as a botanical laboratory of the Institut Colonial.

From 1880 until 1915, the park was the site of a botanical garden, which moved to a different site adjoining the park. In 2002, a promenade of two hectares was laid out between the park and sea.

Sources and Citations

• Page on the official site of the French Committee of Parks and Gardens