Saddled with the most fallacious preconceptions, clichés and stereotypes, the biased picture of the south capital granted itself a limitation of the tourists hordes, choosing the eastern littorals of the Cote d'Azur, and lowering the attractiveness of the Phocaean city. Thus, Marseille met a challenge as much as an opportunity  in 2013, being the European Culture Capital, and adorned itself with a new dress of attractive modernity and innovative culture.

The aim was to go beyond the old and eared photograph of a universe, more than a town, that the city use to represent, tinted with pastis yellow, accented with Pagnol's literature, and framed with the boundaries of a pétanque strip. From now on, the new Marseille wants to be at ease with its cultural cosmopolitanism, and the civilisations it represents, placing it a step ahead. The main profit of this operation affects naturally the structures of transmission of the local human knowledge, national and international, receiving an extra two  millions visits during the year. As spearheads, the Museum of Europe and Mediterranean Civilisations represents the point of convergence of all the cultures connecting this maritime area, the Villa Méditerranée wishes to create a dialogue between the two sides of the sea just as it links earth and sea with its audacious architecture, and the Fond Regional of Contemporary Art looks towards the future as a major centre for creation. But the treasures of yesterday found a golden opportunity to offer a new lease of life to themselves  and always more to their visitors : the Museums of History of Marseille, of Beaux-arts, of National History, of Decorative Art and Fashion, to name but a few.

Marseille is entering into the apex of the turn it decided to take by making a temporary event an immutable reality, to renew its economy through culture, tourism, and commerce, while conserving the pillars of its durability : its maritime and Provençal charming setting, and its frank and authentic inhabitants. The operation was clearly a success as it appears from now on, in the Top Five places to go of Trivago, as pointed out by the New York Times.