Napoleon III's Palace - Palais de Longchamp

At the beginning of the 19th century, Marseille suffered from severe water shortages and frequent droughts. In order to completely solve this problem, the municipal government of Marseille built a water diversion project in 1839 to bring water from the Durance River into Marseille. To commemorate this project, a palace named Château d'If was built above the reservoir and named Palais Longchamp. Longchamp means "narrow field". The basic layout of the Longchamp Palace is a group of sculptures and fountains in the middle, with a corridor extending on each side. At the end of each corridor, there is a museum, namely the Museum of Fine Arts and the Marseille History Museum. The river god stands in the center of the group of sculptures, with two goddesses holding grapes and wheat respectively, symbolizing wine-making and agriculture. Several loyal bulls on the periphery symbolize the animal husbandry and bullfighting traditions of the Camargue region. The galloping and spirited herd of cattle highlights the grandeur of the gods riding dragons and phoenixes and fighting in the chaos of the world during the ancient times. The huge and protruding pedestal under the feet of the goddess resembles the mouth of a giant beast, with several stalactite-like pillars, creating a "jagged teeth" effect.