Discovered in the 7th arrondissement of Marseille in 2017, on the construction site of an apartment building, the Greek Corderie quarry has been partially classified as a historic monument.
But, to ensure its conservation, the State now plans to bury it, relaunching the controversy with the defenders of the site.
Pointing out the state of "
great fragility
" of the remains, the prefecture of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region had indicated in a press release on Wednesday that the reburial option was "
the best able
" to guarantee it. preservation, confirming information from the local Marsactu investigation site.
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At the same time, associations and residents expressed their opposition to such a scenario on the spot, asking that the State respect its commitments to enhance the 635 m2 classified and still visible. "
We do not want to bury, even if there is only one column left, it will be the symbol of what we have been able to do against destruction, we will protect it to the end
", insists to AFP Joëlle Gilles, president of the neighborhood committee, who wants to save "what
little remains
" of the remains located a stone's throw from the Old Port, most of which is now permanently buried under the building constructed.
Very friable, the stones of the active quarry from the 5th century BC - shortly after the arrival of the Phoceans in Marseille - in the 1st century AD are particularly threatened by water infiltration. "
The conservation of these remains is very difficult
", confirms to AFP Dominique Garcia, president of the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap), who carried out the excavations at the origin of the discovery: to bury these remains "
so that they do not disappear does not seem to me to be totally meaningless
", especially since "
the site has been perfectly documented and is therefore preserved, which is the principle of preventive archeology
".
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As for the interest of the site, "
it is not comparable to the Cosquer cave
" [an underwater cave of which a replica is currently being installed in Marseille, on the model of the Lascaux or Chauvet caves], put into perspective Dominique Garcia, for whom the controversy is perhaps "
more political than patrimonial
".
Same story on the side of the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac), according to which "
the preferred solution is that of reburial of the remains.
The aim is to guarantee the conservation
”of the site
in a sustainable manner
.
At the town hall of Marseille, it is assured that no official information has been communicated on the future of the site since a meeting with the Drac in November 2020. At the time, the three hypotheses of a total reburial, a Partial recovery via glazed windows or the maintenance of the quarry as unearthed with the creation of a protective hall were still on the table.
The partial valuation scenario "
was presented to us as something that was going to be very complicated, expensive,
" recalls Sophie Camard, the mayor (LFI) of the 1st and 7th arrondissements of Marseille.
Why did you save this space so that we could be told afterwards that (...) by default it would be buried again?
We were to be presented with a project to allow us to continue to see these remains
Sophie Camard, mayor (LFI) of the 1st and 7th arrondissements of Marseille
But "
why did you save this space so that we could be told afterwards that (...) by default it would be buried again?"
We were to be presented with a project to allow us to continue to see these remains
”, which“
was the compromise of the time,
”she pleads.
Project that Marseille elected officials are still waiting for.
When classifying part of the site (with a total area of 6,500 m2) as Historical Monuments, in September 2018, the Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen stressed that the conservation of the quarry should be accompanied by "
d 'specific arrangements allowing its visibility
'.
A "
visibility
" which could, in the event of re-burial, take the form of a virtual replica of the site, the entirety of which has been the subject of a 3D survey.
"
Whatever the hypothesis decided by the State, they will have to invite the city to sit around the table
", claims Jean-Marc Coppola, deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of culture.
"
We can not ask that the word be kept for the sale of submarines in Australia and that the word and the commitment made by the former Minister of Culture be flouted
", ironically the elected.