This chapter provides background context to the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) competition itself before moving on to explain the motivations underpinning Marseille-Provence's desire to bid for the title. It discusses how Marseille-Provence's bid demonstrated several technical strengths which were exploited to impress the judging panel and how it constructed a powerful narrative of poly-ethnicism and multi-culturalism that contributed significantly to its ultimate success. The chapter considers to what extent the construction of a powerful storyline for the Marseille-Provence bid was just that; a carefully constructed mythology that gave an air of cosmopolitanism and cultural participation which perhaps did not exist to the extent articulated in the bidding documentation. It analyses the extent to which the promises and plans detailed in the bidding documentation actually bore resemblance to what occurred with Marseille, and the wider Provence region in the lead up to, and immediate aftermath of, the year of culture celebrations.