Chateau de Borly in Marseille, from a village house to Apollo's palace

Parc de Borley, the most beautiful park in Marseille, 17 hectares of surprises, enchants first-time visitors with its ponds, its varied sculptures and its various gardens. And for locals, each of them has childhood memories of it, like Marcel Penol. Parc de Borley is one of the seven wonders of Marseille and at its heart is a castle.

At the heart of Burleigh Park, Burleigh Castle. The castle is the crown, the pearl, the cherry on top. The castle, built to glorify the name of a bourgeois family, the Burleigh family, who made a fortune in trade, to mark their rise in the social ladder, to house them in a comfortable and magnificent setting and to allow them to hold banquets and drinks, became a museum in the service of the public, education, study and pleasure for all. And the rural area around the castle, which was used by the privileged and privileged family to breathe fresh air, became a public park for the enjoyment of all.

How did the whole story begin, thanks to which the residents of Marseille and its tourists enjoy a green, spacious gem dotted with works of art, Borély Park (Le Parc Borély) and at its heart a castle, Borély Castle (Le Château Borély), which serves as an amazing museum, Borély Museum (Le Musée Borély) or, more precisely and in detail, the Museum of Decorative Arts, Pottery and Fashion (Le Musée des Arts décoratifs, de la Faïence et de la Mode).

The Château de Borley is the story of an ambitious merchant family who fulfilled a collective dream and left their mark on Marseille. The Borley family owned many urban real estate properties and a spacious and comfortable country house bought by Joseph Borley, but his son Louis, who pushed for the construction of the castle, aspired to more than the usual country house of his city's nobility. The construction of this château in Marseille in the second half of the 18th century by the father and his sons, the Borley brothers, was a long process in which several generations gradually contributed to the family's economic and social status.

Their residence was considered so exceptional at the time that the term “château” (castle) replaced the term “bastide” (manor) to describe it. The house and the treasures it contained completed, just fifteen years before the Revolution, a collective ascent of a bourgeois family that lasted almost two centuries. An interesting process that began with the purchase of a suburban farm by a merchant at the end of the 17th century until the opening of a public museum, dedicated to decorative arts, in 2013, a fascinating journey of aspirations and worldviews from then to the present day.

Joseph Borelli buys a country house with gardens, vineyards, pastures, lands

Joseph Borély, a successful businessman, one of the vice-mayors, like other members of his family who had achieved this prestigious position thanks to the Mediterranean trade in which they excelled, sought to put down deep roots in the region by purchasing a rural property. Thus, in 1684, the member of parliament of Aix-en-Provence, Elzéar Dantoine, bought a farm surrounded by farmland, pastures, vineyards, trees, gardens, a dozen qatars, with the right to exploit the irrigation canal that was already available on site, thirty-six hours a week. The farm benefited from the proximity of the Yvonne River (l'Huveaune) from which the canal was diverted and from the fertile alluvial deposits of its estuary.

A country house, in fact, more than a farm, which included a large house for the owner's use and a small house, the "farmer's house", where Harris used to live. Work and renovations were carried out by Elazar Dantoin and by Joseph Borelli immediately after he purchased the estate from the former. The large house, two hundred square meters - ground floor with kitchen and chapel and one floor with two rooms. The small house - ground floor with kitchen and one floor with one room. Adjacent to it is a stable, a barn and a shed.

Joseph Borelli asked the bishops for permission to pray in the private chapel, to say masses there, which shows his intention to make the estate a permanent residence or at least not to bother himself on Sundays to travel by carriage to the church in the city center. The religious hierarchy, which was not keen on decentralizing powers, granted him, nevertheless. About fifteen years after purchasing the estate, Joseph was granted the coveted privilege. 

In the photo is the chapel in Borelli Castle, but not Joseph's chapel, which no longer exists because his house was destroyed - an explanation will follow, but rather the chapel built by his successors:

Louis Borelli buys additional farms and lands and expands his father's inheritance

Louis Borély, son of Joseph, was born on December 18, 1692 in Marseille to a successful family. He quickly joined its business and for this purpose he stayed in Alexandria from 1717 to 1723 with his brother. In that year, 1723, his father Joseph died. Louis returned to Marseille and married a girl named Anne Abeille from a similar background whose family status was even higher because she had received a title of nobility two generations earlier.

Louis Borelli, approaching thirty, had become very wealthy after inheriting from his father and uncle. Although he was the third sibling, he had the lion's share after one brother died young. His uncle, who had no children, also passed on to him his position as the king's advisor in the office of the comptroller of Provence.

The Louis and Anne Burley couple had eleven children, but only seven survived. Anne Abaye herself died in 1741 at the age of forty. The eldest orphan was only fourteen. Louis Burley, a widower approaching fifty, during this period nurtured the ambition to build a castle on the property he had inherited from his father in the Bonneveine neighborhood, not far from the sea. Not just any bastide, of which there are hundreds, beautiful and comfortable, dotting the area, but to a higher degree, a castle!

A comfortable and spacious country house, in fact, was already in place and standing by the time the castle was completed… The ambition paid off… Borley Castle is a story of ambition, as the title suggests. the album Dedicated to her, from which I drew most of the information presented in this article. Slowly, we will go step by step in tracing the history of the family enterprise that became public domain.

Four years after his wife's death, in 1745, Louis Borelli returned to Egypt, this time not to Alexandria but to Cairo, and in partnership with the younger brother Denis, he once again flourished the family's trading business. Ships loaded with seeds (grain, rice), silk, and oil (for soap production in local factories) arrived on their behalf at the port of Marseille. Before setting off, Louis Borelli took the trouble to leave a will in favor of his eldest son. In those days, the risk of a journey to the East was considerable. 

Nine years later, in 1756, Louis Borelli returned to Marseille and began buying farms to expand the rural complex he had inherited from his father Joseph in the Bonven neighborhood. Eight years before Louis was born, his father, Joseph Borelli, had purchased, as we have seen, the first farm, more of a country house than a farm, which was the nucleus from which the Borelli Park and the castle that dominates it would develop, to the glory of the city of Marseille. Louis Borelli bought four more farms around it to increase the area bought by his father Joseph. In 1727 he bought a farm called “La Michelle”, in 1738 “La Tirane”, in 1760 “La Dumone”, in 1764 “La Valbelle”. Farms and their lands around the initial farm, luck played in the Borelli dynasty! Also diligence and ambition, of course.

In 1770, Louis-Joseph-Denis, Louis's son, acquired two more plots of land to the south of the estate, an opportunity that fell into his hands. More than fifty-four catties, in the hands of the family, in a victorious location, near the sea, no small matter! In the same year, “La Louise” was bought, in 1812 “La Charrier” and in 1815 “L'Anjouvine” (by Honore's son-in-law, Louis-Joseph-Denis's brother), three farms that connect, from east to west, with the plots near the sea.

Louis Borelli builds a castle on the site of the estate

In 1765, three years before his death at the age of seventy-six, Louis Borelli began construction of the château. Louis Borelli is the man who purchased most of the works of art that would adorn it and the five hundred volumes that would make up its library.

His request to fix the spelling of the name “Borély”, which was written differently each time, Borel, Borele, Borrelly, Bourrely, was granted. His aspiration to receive the title of nobility, de Borély, was fulfilled.

Louis turned to the architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau, who was known as an expert in the Italian style and had gone before him, even reaching the court of Catherine II, Empress of Russia. His drawings contributed to the fashion for ancient architecture that gave birth to the neoclassical movement. Charles-Louis Clérisseau returned from an eighteen-year stay in Italy and met Louis Borelli.

In 1766, the first contracts were signed for the supply of building materials for the castle. In 1767, work began. Louis Borelli died on April 2, 1768, leaving significant donations to hospitals and other charitable institutions. The castle project is growing and developing under the direction of the next generation.

Louis Borelli's sons, brothers Louis Joseph Denis and Honoré, enter the arena to fulfill their father's dream. The village house that Joseph Borelli bought stood and served the family until the work was completed. The exact date of its demolition is unknown, probably between 1770 and 1780. 

The sons of Louis Borelli, Louis-Joseph Denis and his brother Honore, completing the castle

Remember when Louis the Elder turned to the famous and sought-after architect Charles-Louis Clarissot? The facade of the castle was preserved according to Clarissot's plan, but Louis-Joseph-Denis the Younger believed that it should be cleansed of several ornate items conceived by Clarissot, and to that end he turned to the architect Esprit Brun to have the unnecessary decorations removed. Indeed, the neoclassical building, which is now visible to those approaching, is the most elegant, perfect. 

Louis-Joseph-Denis then turned to a painter from Aubagne, Louis Chaix, and first sent him at his own expense to study in Italy. Louis Chaix made copies of Raphael, Titian, Rubens, Guido Reni and brought a copy of “The Rape of the Sabine Women” (Ratto delle Sabine) by Pietro da Cortona.

Louis Chai worked wonders in interior design, which is largely based, in all spaces, that is, in the reception rooms and private apartments, on three main forms: Paintings, plaster decorations, gold-plated woodwork. The main theme in them is a song of praise to the god of the sun and arts, Apollo, through episodes illustrating his work. For the painting of the ceiling of the foyer, “The Dawn” was used as a model (Aurora) by Guido Reni, 1614. Louis Chaix's painting, “The Chariot of Apollo” (le Char d'Apollon), is, without a doubt, the most important and impressive work in the castle, which seems to foreshadow its enlightened destiny as a disseminator of the arts to those entering:

Louis Chavez poured his own content into Guido Reni's model and gave it movement and life. The "seasons" and the "hours" do not accompany the chariot but whirl in the sky. The Titans, enemies of the gods, sink into darkness in the opposite direction to the "rising of day". This, in a cloak of dazzling light, is accompanied byפוטו (A chubby boy) carrying a torch, shows the way to the horses of Apollo's chariot while scattering roses like dewdrops.

Apollo, the name for the end of darkness, forms the center of the painting and carries the message of Borelli Castle. Apollo, who brings about the triumph of light and art, is the patron saint of the castle. And so are its owners, who bring progress, wisdom and prosperity to the city of Marseille, who entertain their guests with delightful celebrations. At the feet of Apollo, Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, fertility and harvest, is accompanied by Hephaestus, the goddess of flowers and gardens. Bacchus and Pan, always ready to enjoy nature, lying drunk, among the clouds. The fierce north wind and the mild east wind participate in the divine act. Fire and water complete the picture. 

The wall of the staircase, in its upper half, creates an illusory impression of Niches in the Italian Renaissance style In each of them stands Ella, Flora, Aphrodite, Diana and their companions, accompanying the sunrise, glorifying the painting of Apollo driving his chariot. Those who ascend the stairs slowly discover them.

The photograph shows Hygeia, the goddess of health and cleanliness (hence the word “hygiene”), daughter of Asclepius, the god of medicine, holding a snake in her left hand; Diana the Huntress, equipped with a bow and quiver and wearing a short tunic; Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, mother of the nine Muses, is depicted as a pensive woman resting her head on the palm of her right hand.

The plaster decorations, in the form of flowers, wreaths, crowns, dances and songs in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine, around a satyr playing a flute, hint at the pleasures awaiting the guests of the castle, who climb up the staircase: a divine feast, a dance ball, the joy of body and soul.

From the foyer, we pass into the “gilded salon,” where a copy of “The Abduction of the Sabine Women,” 1629, hangs:

This living room is the most magnificent of the row of living rooms on this floor. The gold plating of most of the paintings, plaster decorations, and woodwork in the living room gives it a warm and pleasant glow, and at sunset, through the windows facing the sea, its colors penetrate and deepen it. 

The paintings of the castle and its decorations depict various mythological scenes from ancient times, as was customary in those days, but the theme of the god Apollo, who roams its various spaces, is particularly emphasized out of personal choice. To him, the god of light, art, poetry, and rhetoric, the place is largely dedicated. The Borelli family identifies with him. The visitor, who sees Apollo as the leader of the chariot of the sun in the painting on the ceiling of the entrance hall, sees him again in the painting on the ceiling of the library as the leader of the nine muses (a photograph of the painting does not appear online and I did not take a picture of it during the visit because it was very dark, so I will confine myself to describing it):

Apollo, the god of the arts and music, leaning on a harp, is represented on Mount Parnassus, where he resides, in the company of the nine Muses. The painting is dynamic, its figures are placed on different surfaces, one above the other, and lead upwards, to the victorious Apollo, who waves a laurel wreath – the prize awarded in artistic competitions. Apollo, with a halo on his head, stands above the clouds.

The Muses are recognizable by their distinctive marks and are accompanied by cherubs celebrating the triumph of art with trumpets and palm branches. One of them carries a statue of Homer, the father of poets. 

Four years to complete the construction of the château and another seven years to complete the interior design. Louis-Joseph-Denis continued to beautify the château and reward the artists he admired until his death.

Many famous people came to admire the works of Louis XV, kings, dukes, diplomats, artists, and writers, including King Carlos VI of Spain, Princess Maria Carolina of Naples and Sicily, and the poet Alfred de Vigny. They all signed the castle's Golden Book, which is kept in it. Bourgeoisie, merchants, and even commoners also benefited from the generosity of the owners and were invited to see the castle.

Here is a video for your impressions, a view from the outside, a view from the inside, focusing on the ceiling painting “Apollo’s Chariot”:

In 1684, the story began when Joseph Borelli bought the first house in the Bonven neighborhood. A hundred years later, in 1784, his grandson Louis-Joseph-Denis, who did the most, after his father Louis, to complete the castle, died. A hundred years that gave birth to the project and shaped it. By an amazing coincidence, the grandson died exactly a hundred years after his grandfather bought the initial farm, the nucleus of the castle and the park. Louis-Joseph-Denis died at the age of fifty-three and, like his father, left donations to the sick and poor. The estate passed into the hands of his brother Honore, who was his partner throughout. Louis-Joseph-Denis was unmarried and had no children. More than a merchant, he was an art lover and his life's mission was to build and embellish the family castle and its gardens.

A local woman recounts in her diary that Louis-Joseph-Denis Borelli had a love affair with one of the Marseille opera singers, Henriett Pezé. Louis was deeply in love with her, Henriett returned his love and also enjoyed his wealth and generosity. The beauty died in 1780 of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-two.

Louis-Joseph-Denis removed her body from the cemetery and moved it to the château where he had it embalmed and hidden behind a glass partition at the back of the library. When he moved the partition, he could see his beloved, standing in her alcove, dressed in opera attire.

Louis-Joseph-Denis, who was seventeen years older than his beloved, died four years after her. After his death, his brother Honore removed the mummy and returned it to the cemetery. Some say he buried it somewhere on the estate grounds…

Is the gossip girl's story true? I don't know. Just as I don't know whether what they say about Otto von Bismarck's cousin, Guido Henkel von Donnersmarck, who embalmed the body of his beloved wife, La Piave, and hid her in a glass cabinet in the attic of his castle – is true or not. Two similar stories. You can read about the second story HERE.

Honoré had been married for ten years to Marie-Catherine de Surian, the widow of his cousin, and managed the nearby estate that belonged to her, “La Sallade.” Honoré added his wife’s estate to the entire estate he inherited upon his brother’s death, thus further enhancing and embellishing it! 

Honore maintained the estate and added volumes to the library. During the Revolution he took refuge in Switzerland and then in Montpellier, and when he returned, safe and sound, he found the château unscathed. Honore died in 1804 and left the property to his only daughter, Louise-Jeanne-Marie. She married, four years before her father's death, the military man and statesman, Count Pierre Léandre de Marc-Tripoli de Panisse-Passis. 

The count continued to cultivate the estate and enrich its art collections. The couple's son, the Marquis Gaston de Panisse, decided to give up the castle and its treasures. Not with a light heart because the Marquis was associated with the castle, but he had to choose. The Marquis inherited another considerable property from his childless uncle, Le Château de Lamanon, near Aix-en-Provence, and preferred to invest his resources in this property and the village he built around it. 

And so Gaston de Panis, the fifth generation of the Borley family, said goodbye to the castle. To summarize: Joseph Borley, a merchant living in Marseille, bought a farm surrounded by gardens and farmland in the suburban neighborhood of Bonven, on the city's seafront. Joseph's son, Louis, bought more and more farms to expand the area he inherited. Each time he bought another farm, its gardens and its farmland. Then Louis began building a castle next to the original farm that would later be demolished. Louis's son, Louis-Joseph-Denis Borley, accompanied by his brother Honore, completed its construction and finishing. These two sons continued to cultivate the castle, according to the dream of their father and grandfather. Honore's daughter, Louise-Jean-Marie, inherited the castle and continued, together with her husband, to cultivate it. But Gaston de Penis, Louise's son, who inherited the castle from her, decided, by necessity, to sell it.

Joseph Borély 1642-1723

Louis de Borély 1692-1768

Louis-Joseph-Denis de Borély 1731-1784, Honoré de Borély 1732-1804

Louise-Jeanne-Marie de Borély 1774-1831

Gaston de Mark-Tripoli de Panisse-Passis 1807-1891

The castle and park pass to the municipality of Marseille through the railway builder Talaboo

The sale of the castle took place at a time of fundamental urban changes that, within twenty years, transformed the face of Marseille: the paving of streets, the expansion of the port, the construction of public buildings, the emergence of the railway. 

The latest change is directly linked to the sale of the Borelli estate. The engineer, entrepreneur, industrialist and businessman Paulin Talabot, builder of the first railway lines in the south-east of France, did not miss the opportunity to buy it. On March 25, 1857, Gaston de Panis signed a contract in which he sold the Borelli estate to a company that had been set up two weeks earlier by Paulin Talabot for the purpose of the move. Paulin Talabot paid Gaston de Panis one million francs for the property. In 1831, the year Gaston de Panis inherited the property, its value was estimated at 371,817 francs!

The Marseille Botanical Garden had been located in those days for fifty years in the fourth arrondissement, on the grounds of the Chartreux Monastery (le Couvent des Chartreux) and was therefore called the Chartreux Botanical Garden (le Jardin botanique des Chartreux). Paulin Talbot coveted it so that he could lay a section of the Marseille-Toulon railway through it. And so, in 1856, the garden was gone, with its trees, shrubs and plants, flowerpots, large greenhouse, fountains, orange grove, canal, library, and director's house... Paulin Talbot received from the municipality the gem he had destroyed for the railway and in return gave it land from the Parc de Borly so that it could move the botanical garden there.

Paulin Talbot needed the municipality of Marseille not only to lay a railway line in place of the botanical garden but also to build and use the loading and unloading docks of the Joliette neighborhood (Les Docks de la Joliette). Talbot understood that it was important to unload the goods that arrived by sea directly onto the trains that traveled to Lyon or Paris and indeed won the project. It should be noted that the project to build a new port south of Marseille was abandoned in favor of the Joliette neighborhood, so Talbot no longer had an interest in the lands of the Borelli estate to build warehouses there.

The docks were in their original use until 1988 and today the place is home to companies and businesses and on the ground floor there are fashionable boutiques, restaurants and attractive bars. The municipality, for its part, was interested in a public park, in turning the castle into a museum and in building a hippodrome, goals that were fully achieved. The park and the castle-museum attract a large crowd, both local residents and tourists.

In 1862, the city of Marseille asked Adolphe Alphand, Baron Haussmann's right-hand man in all matters of Parisian parks, to design the Parc de la Bourlée. Alphand's plan was accepted and implemented.

What part of it still exists today and what changes have been made? About the park, its gardens, its sculptures and other wonders, in a follow-up article. It is recommended to stroll through it without missing its hidden recesses. And of course, do not miss Borley Castle and discover, in addition to the architecture and works of art, the permanent exhibition collection. Changing exhibitions regularly add interest.

The museum today, a harmonious combination of past, present and future

Since its acquisition by the city of Marseille, the castle housed the Archaeological Museum until it became, in 2013, a museum of decorative arts, pottery and fashion. The challenge was, after four years of renovation, to breathe life into the castle while restoring the memory of the past from the 18th century while leading visitors towards contemporary art. For example, a lamp by a modern designer welcomes visitors who will be greeted in the same breath by the furniture of the Borelli family, the founders of the castle. And even more so because, to the greatest of luck and amazement, most of the original design of the Borelli family has been preserved.

The challenge was achieved. The restrained elegance of the building contrasts with the richness of its interior, where antique decoration is combined with contemporary museography. A wide variety of works are displayed: ceramics, furniture, glassware, tapestries, art objects, design and fashion, from the 18th century to the present day. The fashion gallery presents works by well-known fashionistas and young designers, regularly updated, in accordance with the museum's current affairs. Their understanding: visitors enter the castle as if they were guests of the Borelli family, but without losing touch with contemporary reality.

We saw the row of ostentatious salons, intended for receptions. We enter them through the southern facade, overlooking the courtyard. From the foyer – the staircase leads to the “golden salon” and the other public spaces. The private spaces were organized on the upper floors, which were reserved for the owner of the house, his family and friends. On the first floor, the visitor will see six small apartments, each consisting of two rooms: a bedroom and an adjoining study. These were the apartments of the family members. Only Louis-Joseph-Denis enjoyed four private rooms, including the library, in his apartment.

Particularly spectacular is the royal bedroom, whose original paneling has recently been restored in a simpler way (one tree motif has been retained instead of two). These are panels of fabric, in the Indian style (also Chinese and Persian), fashionable in the 18th century, depicting a recurring motif in the form of a tree with curling branches, bearing flowers, the “Tree of Life,” which originated in a striped rock.

Integrating into the Indian design, these days, are three urns representing enigmatic heads, a tribute to the Roman goddess of flowers, gardens, spring and youth, Flora, by the artists Françoise Vergier, born in 1952, who moved to a village in Provence. The decorated urns are intended to contain dried flowers and spices. Death and life, masculinity and femininity, ornament and utility, sculpture and painting, body and landscape are used together in the works of the ceramic artist who is also a sculptor and painter.

Françoise Vergier, 24. Source: The Facebook page of the Borelli Museum

The second floor was reserved for guests: six bedrooms, arranged around a large central rotunda. Alongside these apartments, there is a whole network of corridors, rooms and hidden staircases that were used by servants, so that they would not meet the owners, their families and friends.

And finally, a video by the popular historian of Marseille, Judith Aziza:

קישור לMuseum website

קישור לPark website