Château d'If

Marseille

On 24 January 1516, returning from a pilgrimage after Marignano, François I had himself taken to the islet of If to see an Indian rhinoceros: given to the King of Portugal, the animal was being sent on to Pope Leo X, and its ship had put in off Marseille. It drowned, chained, a few weeks later when the ship was wrecked off Genoa; the king, for his part, had seen the islet, and decided to build a fortress there to guard the roadstead. Completed in 1531, it was above all to become a state prison: Mirabeau was locked up there by lettre de cachet in 1774–1775, and some 3,500 Protestants passed through it after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, before being chained to the galleys of Marseille. In 1844 Alexandre Dumas imprisoned Edmond Dantès and the Abbé Faria here: two characters from a novel, who nonetheless drew visitors to the island even before it officially opened. The château has been a listed historic monument since 1926.

Getting there : Open year-round (shorter hours in low season), paid entry; boat crossing from the Vieux-Port, not included; closed in rough weather.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound