Saint-Laurent Church, Marseille

This Roman-Provincial church was built in the 12th century, exactly in the same place where the first Greek temple, dedicated to Apollo once stood. The fourteenth-century belfry was rebuilt in the 17th century, but in 1668, when the St-Jean fort was extended, the hillock descending towards the sea was cut off by a ditch, destroying the church façade. The main access to the church is now on the right-hand side. This lovely church and her Saint Catherine chapel withstood the destruction of this fishing district (the Saint-Jean district) during the occupation by the German troops in 1943, preserving its beautiful Roman architecture of pink limestone, found in La Couronne, a nearby village on the Riviera. Its vault is decorated with liemes and tiercerons, from a late Gothic period, only found in Marseille and the chapel holds many different works of art of which certain originate from Saint-Laurent.