Hotel de Ville

This guide to Marseille's Hôtel de Ville opens with former footballer Basile Boli returning to its port-facing balcony in 2023, thirty years after his header won the Champions League final in Munich. From there it steps back to the balcony's own history, built for city consuls with a foundation stone blessed by a bishop in 1653, through stalled funding under Louis XIV, torn fleur-de-lis during the Revolution, and rioters on its stairs in 1871. Look up at the same acanthus columns Boli gripped that night as you take in the view across the old port.