Borély Park, Marseille, is located south of the city, close to the shore.
It was created in the seventeenth century by the ship owner and merchant Louis Borély who wanted to develop a country house consisting of a main building and a vast area with vineyards, gardens, woodlots. His son Louis-Joseph used a specialist in 1770 to develop a classical garden.
During the nineteenth century, the city became the owner Marseille mandates a landscaper to make the site a public park. The project has therefore a French garden, an English garden and a racecourse by the sea.
On an area of 18 hectares, all kept this aspect nowadays, except what came to be added at the end of the nineteenth the former botanical garden of the Carthusians (where one of 3500 plant species) and more recently, a traditional Chinese garden completed the set.
With wide popular alleys of joggers, a walk dedicated to roller blades, providing many small intimate plots (rose gardens, water point, playgrounds), the park finally distinguished by the beautiful waterfall rockery nineteenth century where is located a sculpture by Jean-Michel Folon, "human bird".
An educational trail, road signs mentioning the remarkable species and birds also took their quarters in the park complete the package, not to mention the old country house, a beautiful castle with since 2008 a decorative arts museum dedicated to culture Provencal eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Input 6 euros. Open Tuesday to Sunday. Information at +33 4 91 55 33 60.
The park meanwhile is open daily with free access. Information +33 4 91 76 59 38.
