La Couronne (Bouches-du-Rhône)

Lighthouse at Cap Couronne

La Couronne ( German "Die Krone") is a district of the southern French municipality Martigues in the Bouches-du-Rhône department . The village is on the Mediterranean Sea , on the Côte Bleue .

La Couronne - the village used to be called Queyroun - lives primarily from tourism . It is best known for its old quarries and lighthouses . The quarries were already mentioned by the Greek Strabo . Excavations suggest that they were used as early as the 6th century BC. The Cap Couronne is the most prominent headland between the bay of Marseille and that of Fos-sur-Mer .

Attractions

The old lighthouse was built in the second half of the 19th century. However, this was destroyed in 1963 and replaced by a new one a little later. On December 12, 2003, the lighthouse was added to the list of Monuments historiques .
The parish church "Saint-Jean-Baptiste" ("John the Baptist") ( location → ) was built in 1664 from a previous chapel "des Traceurs de Pierre" from the 16th century. The church tower was inaugurated on May 10, 1859 and bears the marks of the various stonemasons who worked in two quarries. The older one is to the east of today's lighthouse ( location → ). The younger quarry is located on the east bank of the Verdon Bay in the center of the village. Stones are still broken here today for repairs to buildings that were built with Couronner stones, e.g. B. the Vieille Charité in Marseille.43.3382 5.052743,327 5,0553