Inauguration and opening of the MuCEM

Copyright Lisa RICCIOTTI

6 June 2013 - Events - France

Following more than three years of works carried out by Dumez Méditerranée (VINCI Construction France) and Soletanche Freyssinet (VINCI Construction) subsidiary Freyssinet, the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MuCEM) was inaugurated by President of the French Republic François Hollande on 4 June. It opened to the public on 7 June.

Placed at the entrance to the Old Port, the building sits on the former J4 pier and comprises 3,700 m² of exhibition space and a 400-seat auditorium. This is the first great national museum devoted to the civilisations of the Mediterranean. The fine latticework that surrounds the southern and western facades like a mashrabiya in an allusion to Mediterranean influence was designed in ultra high performance fibre reinforced concrete (UHPFRC). Freyssinet also employed the material to create the structure made up of 309 prestressed branching posts for the 136 metre long suspended footbridge that leads to the Fort Saint Jean, a historic monument restored by VINCI Construction France subsidiaries Dumez Méditerranée and Girard, and the 65 metre footbridge connecting the Fort Saint Jean with the Eglise Saint Laurent church.

AXIANS (VINCI Energies) carried out the museographic works (multimedia equipment) at the MuCEM, including a 20 m² wall made up of five LED screens and the dynamic signs at the MuCEM and the Fort Saint Jean.
Under a 40-year public service contract, VINCI Park (VINCI Concessions) designed and built the 700-space Vieux-Port/Fort Saint-Jean car park at the foot of the MuCEM, which it will operate.