Built to celebrate water arriving in the city via the Canal de Marseille, the Palais Longchamp is more monument than building — a baroque cascade of fountains flanked by two curved colonnades, each wing housing a museum. The left wing holds the Musée des Beaux-Arts with its collection of Provençal and Flemish painting; the right wing houses the natural history museum. The formal gardens behind climb the hill and are a favourite for lunchtime strollers. Completed in 1869 to the design of Espérandieu, the same architect who built Notre-Dame de la Garde.
Palais Longchamp
A triumphal water tower with two museums and the best fountain cascade in the city