fertile climate of Monaco
The best museum of Monaco (part 1)
The French Riviera, Monaco, Monte Carlo … Imagination immediately draws a kind of distant, inaccessible world of sun, celebration, passion and excitement, interspersed with yachts, “Rolls-Royces” and champagne fountains. Slender palm trees and tanned ladies on the golden edge of the azure sea, caressing the soles of white-stone villas and medieval castles. The ultramodern masses that are leaving in tiers up the steep slopes of the natural amphitheater are cut here and there by straight ones like an arrow, autobahns or twisted asphalt serpentines … So, Monaco. Two recent events, which cannot be called ordinary, are connected with this place: firstly, the tiny state, which can be crossed on foot in just an hour, marked the 700th anniversary of the ruling Grimaldi dynasty, and secondly, sadly enough , the life of captain Jacques-Yves-Cousteau, a great explorer of the deep sea, who for a long time headed the local Museum of Oceanography, one of the honorary citizens of Monaco, broke off … Continue reading
Older sister (part 1)
Among the inhabitants of the Principality of Monaco, a legend is known about how the distant ancestor of Grimaldi rejected the harassment of a certain lady who turned out to be a sorceress. In revenge, she cursed the whole family, prophesying that there would be no happy marriages in this family. Be that as it may, of the current generation of the princely family, only the 46-year-old Princess Caroline was lucky in her personal life – and even then on the third attempt, when she married the Prince of Hanover. Ernst-Augustus, a native of the old family, the owner of magnificent castles in the north of Germany, is the godfather and grand-nephew of the Queen of England, as well as cousin of Queen Sofia of Spain and the Greek king Constantine. It was precisely such a party for daughters that Princess Grace dreamed of – the former Hollywood star Grace Kelly. Continue reading
Rolls-Royce Land (part 3)
They collected everything from painting to nautical charts, from historical archives to skeletons of extinct animals. Prince Rainier III is a passionate lover of antique cars: his collection of more than 100 vintage cars is exhibited in the exhibition hall in Fontvieille.
Already in the twentieth century, the southern wing of the palace was built, where the apartments of the Crown Prince are now located. It also houses the exposition of the Napoleon Museum with a unique collection of objects and personal belongings of the emperor, as well as the palace archives of the Grimaldi dynasty, letters and manuscripts of Charles V, Louis XIV, Richelieu, a collection of old military uniforms, coins, postage stamps, paintings and engravings. Continue reading
