Toulon - Old Town

The Vieille Ville (Old Town) of Toulon, which was severely damaged during the Second World War, lies by the Darse Vieille (Old Harbor), on the northest of which stands the Préfecture Maritime; every day after sunset the "Cérémonie des Couleurs" takes place here. The fronts of the row of houses along the Quai Stalingrad, which leads southeast to the Rond-Point Bonaparte, were rebuilt after the Second World War and are dominated by the tower of the new Town Hall. The caryatides by Pierre Puget (1620- 1694), originally in the Old Town Hall, which was also destroyed in the war, today adorn the entrance to the Municipal Information Center. They have been copied over and over again all over Provence, (for instance at Cours Mirabeau in Aix-en-Provence), but here remain, unsurpassed in the vividness of their effect. Just to the west from here the narrow, but very busy Rue d'Alger runs north and leads into the Rue Hoche, at the end of which is the Place Puget with the Fontaine des Trois Dauphins (1782, by Chastel), which, like many fountains in Provence, is overgrown and covered with deposits of lime. The Bibliothèque du Vieux Toulon is situated on the Cours Lafayette. At the east end of Rue Garibaldi, which branches off here, stands the impressive Porte d'Italie, a 16th century bridge. Farther on, to the south of the cathedral, is the Place de la Poissonnerie, the fish market.

Leaving the Place Puget, the busy center of the Old Town, by Rue Muraire (also called "Raimu") we come to the noteworthy Opera House (1862-64). Northwest lies the Place de la Liberté with the Monument de la Fédération by Allard. Farther to the west, on the Boulevard Leclerc, is the Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie (Museum of Art and Archaeology; pictures from the 13th to 20th century, prehistoric and ancient finds; open: 1-7pm). In the same building is the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle (Natural History Museum; geological and palaeontological collections; open: 10am-noon, 2-6pm). Adjoining is the attractive Jardin Alexandre-I with magnolias, palms and cedars and to the south of this the large Palais de Justice (lawcourts).