Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography

The story

Huis Marseille opened in 1999 in a merchant house dating to around 1665. Its name comes from a stone plaque on the façade showing the port of Marseille, from a time when canal houses were known by images rather than numbers. In 2013 the museum took over the neighbouring house, giving it fourteen exhibition spaces, among them a lightwell and a red Louis XIV-style period room. The museum calls itself the opposite of a white cube, and most exhibitions are made specifically for these rooms. The programme of international artists changes about three times a year, often shown alongside its own collection of modern photography. A library with stained glass windows, a specialist photo book shop and a canal garden with a small exhibition garden house complete the visit.