Palais Longchamp

This guide to Palais Longchamp opens under what looks like a wing of the Louvre but is actually a giant water tower, celebrating the canal Marseille dug after a cholera epidemic killed thousands in 1835. It follows the architect Henry Esperandieu's decision to turn a water pipe into an opera set, hiring sculptor Jules Cavelier to crown it with a river goddess and tucking two museums into the wings on either side. Inside the east wing you'll meet Pierre Puget, Marseille's own Baroque sculptor, whose twisting marble figures anchor a collection that began with paintings seized from churches during the Revolution. Look for the bronze bulls hauling the goddess from the rock before you step into the galleries.