Palais du Prince
Monaco's royal palace has been around since the 13th century.
Every Grimaldi since has found it necessary to leave their mark
on the place, and as a result this is not one of Europe's most
elegant castles. It is worth taking a look inside though - 15
rooms, including the Throne Room, are open to the public. If you've
already blown your cash and can't afford the entrance fee, the
changing of the guard won't cost you a cent. It starts at 11:55am
precisely and is over within two minutes, so be on time.
In the south wing of the palace, the Musée des Souvenirs
Napoléoniens has a collection of Napoleon's personal
knickknacks, including one sock, a handkerchief and a bunch of
medals, coins, uniforms and swords.
Musée Océanographique
If you've got a thing for fishies, it's worth making the trip
to Monaco just to come here. The Musée is probably the
best aquarium in Europe, with 90 seawater tanks and a display
of living coral. There's also a display on the work of the late,
great Jacques Cousteau, as well as other ocean explorers. If you're
unlucky enough to hit Monaco on one of those 65 rainy days, this
is the perfect place to console yourself.
Monte Carlo Casino
If it weren't for the Casino, Monaco would be just another
little town on the Côte d'Azure, somewhere for Parisian
public servants to take their secretaries for a dirty weekend.
Instead, Monaco is a fairytale land built on luck, where the glitterati
advertise the fact that they've got so much they're throwing it
away. You may not have two francs to rub together, but you can
soak up the atmosphere and use the toilets for free, provided
you can disguise yourself as a highroller with money to burn.
However, if your ambitions go beyond one-armed bandits and hanging
out with other impoverished backpackers, you'll have to fork out
- 50FF to get into the Salon Ordinaire and 100FF for the Salons
Privés - a snap when you consider the minimum bet in the
inner sanctum is US$5000. It's almost worth it just to view the
over-the-top baroque splendour of the Casino's architecture.
THE FAVORED PLACES OF CULTURE
Monte Carlo Opera
Since 1892 the Monte Carlo Opera has occupied the Garnier Hall,
named after its architect who also designed the Paris Opera House.
A hall with a wonderful past, where many works were produced for
the first time, such as Richard Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde",
in the French version, in 1893 and Maurice Ravel's "The Child
and the Spells" in 1925.
In all, forty-five lyrical works were first produced in Monte
Carlo where the greatest artists came to sing in that golden age
: Melba, Caruso, Chaliapin, Tito Schipa, Georges Thil and in our
own day Ruggero Raimondi, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.
It was also in the Garnier Hall that Monaco lived through the
greatest hours in the history of the dance. Serge de Diaghilev,
Nijinski, Serge Lifar and Ludmilla Tcherina are part of its history.
They performed in décors, outstanding in themselves, created
by Picasso, Derain and Dufy. "The Spectre of the Rose"
was first produced in Monte Carlo in 1911 starring Nijinski.
Every year John Mordler, the Director of the Monte Carlo Opera
House, presents a season of a rare quality consisting of four
works, very often new productions. The productions of the Monte
Carlo Opera House have always reached the greatest artistic heights,
where 524 privileged people make up an audience in an extraordinary
atmosphere and intimacy possessed by no other theater of international
fame.
Here too, Jean-Marc Genestié and Jean-Christophe Maillot
present in like manner the various performance of the Company
which begin during the Christmas - New Year period, continue in
March and April during the Springtime of the Arts festival, in
mid-August and finish at the time of the National Holiday in November.
Between these fixed periods, the dancers go on tour abroad as
before, to Japan, Italy, the United States and to Russia where
their performances are warmly welcomed.
The Princess
Grace Theater : This, the former Beaux-Arts theater first
opened in 1936, had its hours of glory with Sacha Guitry, Elvire
Popesco, Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier. Princess Grace designed
the whole of the decoration of this hall which was inaugurated
on 17th December 1981 with Edwige Feuillre, Valentina Cortese
and Dirk Bogarde. Run by a committee whose president is H.S.H.
Princess Stéphanie, under the direction of Patrick Hourdequin,
the theater is now extremely popular with a very varied program
where everyone can find something to satisfy him.
The
Fontvieille Area : The site used to stage the International
Circus Festival. Each year astonishing acts from the world of
the circus are to be seen here. A circular structure made of canvas,
the Fontvieille Area can, due its internal flexibility, house
events of very different types. It provides 4000 seats in the
round without any obstacle spoiling the spectator's range of vision
apart from the four supporting masts.
In the show format, there is a huge 12 x 12 meters stage, 1.2
meters high, for all sorts of musical or variety shows.
In the "various events" format, it provides various
options : organization of banquets, buffets, auction sales, conferences
and television recordings.
The Congress Centre - Auditorium : The flowering point of
Art and Culture. With its terrace-roof of enameled lava created
by Vasarely and the fitting in the Troparium of a Folon-designed
carpet, "The Metamorphosis", woven at Aubusson in a
single piece of 70 square meters, usable in many ways, the Congress
Centre - Auditorium, facilitated the recording of symphony concerts,
televised shows ... It is one of the finest halls in Europe where
the Philharmonic Orchestra practices and gives its regular concerts
from January to December with a move from mid-July to mid-August
to the Court of Honor of the Prince's Palace. Capacity : 1100
people with an astonishing range of lighting and acoustics.
The Monégasque Government is preparing an extraordinary
extension of its reception facilities with the Cultural and Exhibition
Center on the site of the old Centenary Hall. This Center will
include an exhibition hall of about 4,700 square meters in area,
an auditorium with 1,200 places, equipped as a show hall with
exits at the sides and an orchestra pit (13 meters below the level
of the sea), a recording studio and seven meeting rooms of varying
capacities with the most up to date technical equipment.
The Fort Antoine Theater : Built between 1709 and 1713
- during the War of the Spanish Succession - on the headland of
the Rock. Later, in the reign of Prince Charles III, it was surrounded
by gardens.
Rebuilt in 1954 at the behest of Prince Rainier III, as it had
been partly destroyed in 1944, the old bastion is today an open-air
cultural and artistic venue with a central stage, gardens facing
the sea and capacity for 350 spectators. |
