Back to Cote d'Azur contents

Monaco, a police state?

Monaco geographic and history

Visiting Monaco-the Palace-the Cathedral and princess Grace

Let’s first look at the princedom through its world known geography. It is characterized by the 1. old, but in the mean time outgrown harbour for super-luxury yachts. Eastwards it is flanked by 2. Monte Carlo with its casino and the legendary hotel de Paris, on the west side 3. the Rock with the princely palace, the cathedral and the legendary musee océanographique. Behind the old port runs the boulevard Albert 1r after which the 4. Condamine begins, which means the Monaco shopping centre, shortly said, the centre of the town. Finally, behind the rock lies Fontvielle where the genie of the prince created a new yacht harbour, a gigantic sports stadium and complete new series of high rise buildings built on ground conquered on the sea.

Port of Fontvielle

"To live in Monaco, all you need is good taste and a lot of money" proclaims the principality's "Society" magazine". And Monaco boast and idyllic natural setting , glamorous residents , Americanised culture and international cuisine.  Do you know a country that small (195 ha) in the whole world, so famous and mediatized as Monaco? Mere creativity cannot compete with financial talk.  Residents of Monaco have the highest per capita income in the world and given its size, Monaco arguably has the greatest ratio of banks in the world. Myriads of souvenir shops, tourist groups in close order, dreaming in this operetta decorum about the tempestuous love affairs of Stephanie de Monaco or the beautiful but sad idylls of Grace Kelly and prince Rainier, as well as Caroline and Stefano (if this liaison is still on at the moment of this post ;-))  
Tourism is king here! Each year the princedom welcomes several million tourists.
But how did all this start? Therefore we must take another history lesson! Those who hate history can stop here and click on the link to next article about visiting Monaco. Those who are interested in a very anecdotal and thrilling history of the princedom, please, continue reading.
The Rock of Monaco was a shelter for primitive populations. Traces of their occupation were discovered in a cave in the Saint-Martin Gardens. The first sedentary inhabitants of the region, the Ligures, are described as a mountain people, accustomed to hard work and an exemplary frugality. 
At the end of the 12th century B.C., the Romans occupied the region.  During this same period, Phoenician and Carthaginian sailors brought prosperity to the region. After the fall of the Roman Empire (5th century A.D.), the region was regularly sacked by different barbarian populations. It was only at the end of the X century, after the expulsion of the Saracens by the Count of Provence, that the coast slowly became repopulated and Monaco became Genoan property. Monaco is taken by the Genoese. The Grimaldi lays the first stone of the stronghold which today is the Prince's Palace.  From that date forward, the Rock becomes the object of the ongoing struggle between the two parties disputing power in the Republic of Genoa, the Ghibelines, allies of the German emperor, and the Guelfs, faithful followers of the Pope and the Comte de Provence. In 1308, a Genoan Guelf, Grimaldi (nothing to do with the famous Italian Grimaldi family) conquers the Monaco seignory and since that moment all heirs of the Grimaldi house wear that name on their armouries. In 1346 Charles the 1st Grimaldi acquires Menton and Roquebrune in 1355. Many consider him to be the true founder of the Principality.
 Being a lord in Monaco was not always a piece of cake! The Grimaldis were not always that smiling and friendly you see regularly in papers and tabloids. Terror, fear and murder were the main ingredients of daily life in that era.  Murdering brothers, slaughtering his best friend was regarded as highly normal! Thus in 1505, Jean II was killed by his brother Lucien. But there is a justice after all, thanks god:  at his turn Lucien was assassinated by his nephew. What a nice family !! And to stay in history books, Honore the 1st was simply thrown into the sea by his subjects in 1604. 
Augustin I, in disagreement with the French authorities, places Monaco under the protectorate of the Spaniard, Charles-Quint.
Thus, from 1524 to 1641 Monaco was a Spanish protectorate but after 10 years of negotiation and thanks to the influence of Richelieu, the Treaty of Péronne is signed which recognizes the sovereign right of Monaco and grants the Prince and his descendants an equality of rank with the highest French nobles. The French Kingdom thus ensures a protective friendship with the Principality of Monaco. 
The Spanish garrison is evicted evicts from Monaco and they are replace by the French garrison.  But whoever ruled, the name and shield of Grimaldi was attached to this territory. In 1792 Monaco was purely and simple annexed by France but regained its independence in 1814. But in 1848 Menton and Roquebrune declare themselves free cities and the princedom was reduced to Monaco.
But under Charles II, the east side of Monaco began to expand around 1860. Charles made an excellent choice by giving François Blanc the leading of a poor and wretched gamblers place. Blanc decided to give it a bit more lustre and aristocracy and picked out the bare Rocher des Speluges to build a brand new casino, designed by Garnier (builder of the opera in Paris) in 1879. When the buiding was finished this part of Monaco was rebaptized (in honour of Charles) Monte-Carlo. Thanks to the enormous funds the Societe des Bains de Mer is founded in 1861, the railway arrives to Monaco, the splendid Hotel de Paris is build (for a long time the leading hotel in Europe). In 1872 the casino counts 160.000 visitors.
But since silence is a MUST in the princedom, nobody tells or reminds us about the number of poor wretches shooting themselves through the head, poisoning themselves or throwing themselves from the rocks into the sea, after having lost their entire fortune As for the prince of Monaco, feeling he had done a good job by attracting big foreign fortunes, he abolished taxes.
But more and more the mighty, powerful and wealthy of the earth let their money roll over the gambling tables, expensive yachts threw their anchor in the harbour. Monte-Carlo became the hiding place for princes and billionaires, rich good-for-nothing and sly crooks. It was the battlefield where hope, despair and hard materialism fought a cruel battle.
A severe blow was the authorization of gambling in France and Italy in 1933....It meant the end of a monopoly that made the fortune of the city. So the expansion of Monaco restarted after WWII, not by building beautiful villas and parks but by building those hideous skyscrapers, an outrage to the romantic atmosphere that once was.

Monte-Carlo at the Casino side

Rainier III played it very well now. He worked out a new, special fiscal system that would attract the whole French business milieu and a lot of foreign companies. He made it into a fiscal paradise. But president de Gaulle didn’t agree to lose that much of tax money and threatened to cut off gas and electricity forbid French citizens to take advantage of it. Finally an agreement was reached: Frenchmen living 5 years or more in Monaco would have not to pay taxes to the French government.  Foreign societies and firms, attracted by the fiscal privileges, continue to pour in and more and more skyscrapers rise randomly to house them all. Monte-Carlo looks today as a “Manhattan “skyline and I don’t like it!

Bibliography: 

Mary Blume, "Cote d'Azur. Inventing the French Riviera" (Thames and Hudson, London 1982) Stephen Liegeard, "La Cote d'Azur (Ed.Serre, Nice 1988), Patrick Howarth, “When the Riviera was ours” (Century, London 1977), Michel de la Torre, Alpes-Maritimes 06 (ed.Nathan, later  Deslogis-Lacoste), Pemble.J., “the Mediterranean Passion” (ed.Oxford University Press 1988)  

Back to Monaco contents

Visiting Monaco-the Musee Oceanographique

Visiting Monte Carlo-Casino-Hotel de Paris-Jardin Exotique