Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology, Prehistoric anthropology museum in the Jardin Exotique, Monaco

The Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology occupies a building opened in 1959 beside the Observatory Cave in the Jardin Exotique. Its two main rooms are the Albert I room, holding the permanent collections, and the Rainier III room, used for temporary exhibitions. The displays cover finds from Monaco and nearby regions, from the Observatory Cave and the Prince of Monaco Cave to the Grimaldi caves in Italy.

Founded in 1902 by Prince Albert I, the museum was Monaco's first museum and grew out of his excavations at the Grimaldi caves in Italy, where his teams kept excavation logs and sieved sediments. The original building served as both laboratory and public exhibit space. A new building next to the Observatory Cave opened to the public on 17 July 1959 and was inaugurated by Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace on 20 November 1960.

The collection extends beyond Monaco: it holds Egyptian artifacts, among them the mummy of a woman named Merit, who died around 300 BC, and pre-Hispanic objects from the Atacama Desert in Chile. These holdings are studied by international interdisciplinary teams working with other museums and laboratories.

The museum stands inside the Jardin Exotique, next to the Observatory Cave and the New National Museum. The current building opened to the public on 17 July 1959 and was inaugurated on 20 November 1960. Visits centre on two rooms: the Albert I room for the permanent collections and the Rainier III room for temporary exhibitions.

The permanent Albert I room holds a mammoth skeleton from Siberia, shown alongside tools and fauna from the Observatory Cave in Monaco and the Prince Cave at Balzi Rossi in Italy. The museum also keeps the mummy of an Egyptian woman named Merit, who died around 300 BC, and pre-Hispanic objects from the Atacama Desert in Chile.