Palais du Pharo, Second Empire palace on the Mediterranean coast in Marseille, France

Palais du Pharo is a palace in the Second Empire style in Marseille, standing on a hillside above the Mediterranean coast and offering broad views across the Old Port and the entrance to the sea. The facade shows strong symmetry with tall windows framing the water, while garden grounds surround the building with paths and trees that drop toward the shore.

Napoleon III ordered the construction of this palace in 1858 as a gift for Empress Eugénie, with Swiss architect Jean Marc Samuel Louis Vaucher-Crémieux leading the works. After the end of the empire, the building served different public purposes before being converted into a venue for gatherings.

The name Pharo comes from the Occitan faròt, meaning lighthouse, after the beacon that once stood on this headland. Empress Eugénie donated the palace to Marseille in 1884 on condition it serve public purposes, and the city still uses it for receptions and congresses. The auditorium hosts concerts programmed by the Marseille opera.

The gardens open daily from sunrise to sunset and offer paths suited for walking and taking photographs. Guided visits inside require booking ahead through the tourism office, as the building also hosts events.

The building in the palace park that housed the École du Pharo, the armed forces' tropical medicine institute, from 1905 to 2013 now holds the headquarters of Aix-Marseille University, which moved in during 2015. The palace itself was never occupied by the imperial couple: Napoleon III and Eugénie never lived there.