Blaise-Jean-Marius Michel, Comte de Pierredon (1819-1907), also known as Michel Pasha or Michel Pacha in French, was a French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and lighthouse builder.

Early life

He was born in

Sanary Sanary-sur-Mer (, literally ''Sanary on Sea''; oc, Sant Nari), popularly known as Sanary, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 16,696. Sanary-sur-Mer i ...

, near

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

, in 1819. He became a merchant navy officer and traveled frequently between Marseilles and the Near East for the company Messageries Imperiales.

Lighthouse builder in the Ottoman Empire

Following a shipwreck accident in the eastern

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...

he was involved in, he wrote to the French Emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

(reigned 1848-1870), suggesting a network of lighthouses along the coasts of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. Napoleon, who was seeking to advance France's influence over the Ottoman Empire, put the proposal forward. Shortly before the end of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

(1853-1856) in 1855, the French ambassador at the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The name ...

, Antoine Thouvenel convinced Sultan

Abdülmecid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...

(reigned 1839-1861) to construct lighthouses along the Bosphorus. Michel became head of the Ottoman Lighthouse Authority. After the building of a number of lighthouses, he established his own firm "Collas and Michel Co." with another officer, Camille Colas (1819-1898). In 1860, the company negotiated the first concession contract, which was in particular strategic interest for the Ottoman Empire. The company built lighthouses and charged the vessels passing by for the lighthouse service. The fees were collected through offices in the Empire. The high profits, making 73% of the revenues with an average FF 3.6 million in the period from 1862 to 1913, were shared between the company owners and the Ottoman state. Within the first twenty years, almost a hundred lighthouses were built across the empire with lantern lenses imported from France. Michel and Collas became very wealthy through this business. While Collas put his assets in the project of

Jaffa–Jerusalem railway The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway (also J & J) is a railway that connected Jaffa and Jerusalem. The line was built in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (Ottoman Syria) by the French company ''Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et P ...

, Michel invested in a seaside resort at the French Riviera.

Back in France

Returning to Sanary in 1872, he became Mayor, using part of his fortune to rebuild the harbor and the town church. In 1879, he came back to the Ottoman Empire, charged with rebuilding the harbor of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

to modern design. In return, he obtained the honorary title of

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitar ...

from Sultan Abdülaziz (reigned 1861-1876). He was further created a Chevalier of the

légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

by the Republic in 1880, and Comte de Pierredon by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

in 1882. As mayor of Sanary, he planned to turn the nearby area of Tamaris into a fashionable modern resort. Michel died, however, without seeing his project completed. Tamaris was part built with a casino, hotels, a marina, grand houses and around 20 unique villas built. Tamaris was built to be a holiday resort for well to do Parisians. It remains a little-known but attractive and peaceful resort on the outskirts of

La Seyne-sur-Mer La Seyne-sur-Mer (; "La Seyne on Sea"; oc, La Sanha), or simply La Seyne, is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 62,888. La Seyne-sur-Mer, which is ...

. Michel Pasha also made a donation to help biologist Raphaël Dubois, discoverer of the chemical nature of bioluminescence to found a marine biology station in Tamaris.

References

*Thobie, Jacques (2004) ''L'administration générale des phares de l'Empire ottoman et la société Collas et Michel, 1860-1960''. Paris: L'Harmattan, 300 pp. *Bertand, Nathalie (2003) ''Tamaris, entre Orient et Occident'', (Essais Sciences.) 235 pp. *Trankova, Dimana; Georgieff, Anthony & Matanov, Hristo (2011) ''A Guide to Ottoman Bulgaria'' Sofia: Vagabond Media {{DEFAULTSORT:Michel Pasha, Marius 1819 births 1907 deaths Lighthouse builders Pashas Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 1st class Mayors of places in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Papal counts