• The Beaumaderie quarry
The Beaumaderie quarry site is one of the coastal sites exploited by Marseille since antiquity, for the construction of the main monuments of the city of Marseille. Other deposits located in the immediate hinterland are also subject to exploitation, until the medieval and modern period. The deep ruts which lead towards quarries located in the interior, testify to the intensity of the transport of stones brought back to the coast for their embarkation.
Spectacular in size, the extraction floor of the Beaumaderie shows a grid which suggests the organization of the site. Different axes of orientation according to the extraction sectors reveal the simultaneous activity of several teams which operate independently of each other.
A little history ...
• The Mediterranean wall - see
It was built from 1942 during the Second World War. It is one of the elements of the German military fortifications intended to protect the shores of the Mediterranean from a possible landing of Allied troops. A 1946 census reported between Lavéra and La Couronne the presence of 99 blockhouses, about 100 works for large caliber guns, 85 sites for heavy machine guns and minefields bristling with frieze horses.
• Shipwrecks - see
Since antiquity, dozens of boats have run aground on the reefs and rocky bottoms of the harbor of Marseille and the Côte Bleue.
- For the Greek period, three ships from the 5th and 4th centuries. BC are known: the so-called Sausset wrecks on the islet of Aragnon, Bonnieu 3 off Laurons and Carro. They carried cargoes of wine amphoras and Marseille tableware, which reflect this period of Marseille's commercial and economic expansion.
- For antiquity, no less than eight wrecks, dating from the 3rd - 4th century. after J. - C., sank in the bay of Laurons, which then housed a vast port complex.
• The cross of Carro - see
Carro, a fishing village, constantly exposed to the dangers of the sea, had to have a cross as a place of worship. Thus, on Easter Monday in the year 1863, blessed at the Church of La Couronne was transported by arms of men to Carro. Erected at the entrance to the port, it is dedicated to the memory of fishermen who disappeared at sea, a commemorative square reminds us of them since 1822.