Musee d'Histoire de Marseille, Marseille

Free museum to permanent expo to learn about the history of Marseille, the first city of France that go back to ancient Greek times! I particularly love the history behind how the site was discovered while some large building complex were planned to be built and they were able to conserve part of the area and turned it into a museum for everyone.

In the heart of Marseilles, at literally attached to a shopping center (Centre Bourse) this city history museum is informative, entertaining, and free! It is organized in a linear chronological order from the founding by Greek colonist in 600 BCE and onward into the 20th century, exhibiting maps, models and artifacts. If you are interested in history and/or just like to learn more about the city itself, this museum is a worthwhile visit...the price is right ($0) and if you want to leave there is a shopping mall steps away.

Informative museum with excellent displays and short videos. Free headsets allow visitors to listen in any language. We particularly enjoyed the Greek & Roman era history of Marseille.

The good part? The museum was free. The bad part? The staff was a hit and miss experience with some very dedicated people and others behaving like you're visiting their living room. As a tourist there to learn, it wasn't very easy to engage with the non English speaking staff or be informed about the pieces as none of the information was provided in anything else than french. I feel like that's a big miss, and an easily fixed one with little effort and money.

Marseille History Museum is located near the old port and the museum is focus on the fascinating history of the Marseilles region from the BC to the contemporary. The exhibitions are very well organized chronologically with a wide range of artifacts, including pieces of several ancient wooden boats that have been recovered in the area. The museum places used to be the dock and the port spot in the Roman times. The City of Marseille did a great job to discover and dig out all the ancient stuff, there are so many. It is amazing tour in the exhibitions. Great way to learn the history in Marseille. Strongly recommended.