The Palace of Arts, or Palace Carli, is one of the major landmarks of the city. It is located in the heart of the city centre, near the old Port.
Built at the end of the 19th century by the Marseille architect Henri Espérandieu, this building was built in order to accommodate the municipal library and the school of fine arts. On-site Augustus and François Carli, in the 1st District, given very quickly the name of Palace Carli.

This is to compensate for lack of space of the imperial high school, now Lycée Thiers, installed in the former convent of the Bernardine, that the city undertook the construction of the Carli Palace. Indeed, until 1859, in addition to the high school, the convent housed School of fine arts, the Museum of fine arts, the Museum of natural history and the municipal library. Locals have become too small for all, an agreement is signed between the Mayor, Jean-François Honorat, the Rector of Academy and the prefect Besson, stating the assignment of the whole of the premises of the convent of Bernardine in the school. So had to relocate the expelled institutions. At the same time, in 1859, the municipality has acquired a field says "talus", former garden of the convent of 7 500 square metres. Museum and the museum being relocated at the Longchamp Palace, the city decided to construct a building to house the school of fine arts and the library on the embankment.

A remarkable construction
The construction took 10 years, from 1864 to 1874. Architecture Espérandieu was faced with many difficulties caused by the topography of the terrain. Indeed, the very pronounced slope forced the architect to consider very deep foundations. In addition, the work are stopped for two years from 1870 to 1872, due to the war and a lack of funding. Henri Espérandieu died on July 11, 1874 while work is not yet complete. Joseph Letz and Gaudensi Allar, respectively Inspector and conductor of the work, will finish construction such that the architect had imagined.

The cube-shaped building is characterized by a duality of materials, giving two different building pills, depending on whether you are outside or inside. The main façade is white of Tarascon stone while the inner court is in red brick and stone chaining. Many carved decorations adorn the facades as winged geniuses 'Alpha and Omega', the geniuses of science and the arts, as well as the busts of monarchs such as Auguste, Pericles, François 1st, Louis XIV... Inside, a large Chamber, supported by granite columns, faced a Memorial of the architect Espérandieu.

Today, the Carli Palace is occupied by the National Academy of Region "Pierre Barbizet". It is a historical monument since 1997.