La Ciotat is a small French city not far from Marseille in Provence, in the South of France. The city became famous thanks to the Lumière brothers who created their first animated film there, in 1895, and gave the first public screening of projected motion pictures in the "L'Éden" theatre. (A short 50 second unedited film that showed the arrival of a train at the La Ciotat station is now considered to be the first movie in the world).

Apart from that, La Ciotat WAS also famous for its shipyard. The first ships come out of La Ciotat around 1835. In the 1940s a new shipyard built with huge docks and cranes is mainly intended for the construction of cargo ships transporting gaz and fuel. In 1982 the shipyard stops all activity but the cranes, depots and huge machinery are still there, having been rusting and decaying for 25 years already. The only activity remaining at the site nowadays is some repairing of big yachts...

2007-08-29 20:22:09 • 0 Comments - Add new comment here