When you hear Marseille, only one thing should strike your heart and that is DYNAMISM. The over 2000 year old city was accorded that accolade by the French financial magazine L’Expansion in May 2005 and it is for no mean reason.

When the word dynamic is used (especially in this context), it refers to something that is ever changing, or progressive. If that be the definition of dynamic, then the word is a justified description of Marseille. If you consider that Marseille grew from being a simple Greek colony to become one of the largest, most influential and most populated city in France, then you would agree that it is nothing short of dynamic.

For a city established in 600 BC, Marseille has fared well and grown in mighty leaps and bounds. Since the institutionalization of the Marseille community. It has evolved over and over again, making and shattering records in the process.

Let’s take a look at how Marseille has evolved and keeps evolving even today, then you may perhaps perfectly comprehend the meaning of a dynamic Marseille

The fact that Marseille is the oldest city in France does not qualify the city as a hub of dynamism, rather, the city has reinvented itself over and over again to suit into many of the roles it has played in modern times thus earning it the title.

When you get to see the list of things that this old ever vibrant lady has achieved, then you would come to the conclusion that she hasn’t fared badly at all.

A Grand Show of Dynamism

Now sit back as we take you through this grand theater of dynamism called Marseille.

A very relevant commercial figure

Since the day it was established, this great city has served as a commercial port. This is so especially evident in a city which has an old Port and a new one. You could already guess why she has a new port right? Yes you were right. It is because she out grew the former one, and of course because she is dynamic. And that’s not all. Her sea port is the largest and most commercial sea port France boasts.

It’s not just a thing about the sea you know. Everybody knows that Marseille is blue: by that, I mean that she is surrounded by the rich blue sea. But Marseille is also making commercial strides in other commercial areas.  It has good roads that aids the easy passage of goods and services.

 Its Provence Airport is the fourth largest in the country. In 2014, the Marseille metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $60.3 billion, or $36,127 per capita (purchasing power parity). Now that’s a lot of money.  Also, the city has been able to establish over 7000 companies. It is also the country’s biggest refiner of petroleum products. All of the petrol used in the great city of Paris is refined and channeled by pipes from the city of Marseille. With this statistics, you can be sure that Marseille will forever keep evolving and becoming more and more dynamic commercially.

Education and research

When it comes to the area of education and research, Marseille is no learner. Aix Marseille University is one of the biggest research universities in France and it boasts 3000 researchers making it the second largest research breeders in France.

Culture and Tourism

Perhaps, Marseille is a city with the highest number of relevant places in France. With a many number of beautiful tourist sites, beaches, historic and architectural sites, not to mention its 24 museums and 42 theaters, alongside its multi ethnicity and diversity, Marseille boasts a rich culture that attracts tourists from all over the world.

Marseille is a hub cultural diversity featuring people from all around the world exhibiting their different cultures. This part of Marseilles’ success has been recognized as it was named the European capital of culture in 2013. To achieve such a feat shows that Marseille has proven itself to be a cultural giant in Europe and in the world at large.

In tourism, the number of tourists that Marseille attracts every year to its many tour worthy sites is just staggering. It was recorded in 2012 that Marseille attracted a total of over a million tourists in one year. This alone shows that Marseille is a tourism God that deserves worship.

Preservation and reinvention

One of the things that keeps Marseille relevant is its ability to preserve and reinvent many of the buildings that it acquired from antiquity.

Many of such buildings are now tourist sites. The many buildings that should have looked like ruins are still shinning like brand new armors. This beautiful and relevant buildings have become a delightful site to behold. Many of these buildings are even still in use today. An example is the Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally: Our Lady of the Guard), a Catholic basilica in Marseille, France, and the city’s best-known symbol. It would shock you to discover that this building is one of the oldest, yet most beautiful buildings in the city. It was first built to be an observation tower until it was later converted to a church. It is still a church till date. Services are held there regularly while it doubles as a tourist attraction.

Examples of other such beautiful sites are the old Port and the old Town which have been kept relevant and functional after all these years.

Sports

Marseille has served the country and even the world on the sporting stage. One of Europe’s most popular football club is native to Marseille. Olympic de Marseille was founded in 1899 has been ever relevant in the scene of French and European football, spending most of its existence in the top tire of the French league.

One of the biggest stadia in the whole ode France is located in Marseille.  The Orange Vélodrome which is rated 4.6 is a 67,000-seat soccer & rugby stadium. It has served the country in a lot of competitions and also in hosting the France 98 world cup and the Europa even more recently.

With all of these listed above, you can tell that Marseille deserves the accolade of a truly dynamic city. If you are ever opportune to visit France, do check out its most dynamic city and you will not regret doing so.