Prince's Palace of Monaco, Princely palace on the Rock of Monaco, Monaco
The Prince's Palace of Monaco stands on the Rock of Monaco, 60 metres above the Mediterranean. Its principal façade reads as a terrace of Renaissance palazzi of different periods, united by a rusticated ground floor, with crenellated towers rising behind. The court of honour has two tiers of frescoed open arcades; the state apartments include the Mirror Gallery, the Blue Room with Murano glass chandeliers, and the Throne Room with a ceiling by Orazio de Ferrari.
The site began as a Genoese fortress: the port was acquired by the Republic of Genoa in 1191, and work on a walled stronghold with four towers started in 1215. On 8 January 1297 François Grimaldi, called "the Cunning", entered disguised as a Franciscan friar seeking shelter and opened the gates to his soldiers. Charles Grimaldi enlarged the fortress between 1331 and 1357, and the family has held it since, ruling as feudal lords and from the 17th century as sovereign princes.
The palace's name comes from the Grimaldi family, whose coat of arms shows two armed monks holding the Monaco shield, recalling François Grimaldi's entry disguised as a Franciscan in 1297. A statue of him stands in the palace quarter. The state apartments, open to visitors, include the Throne Room with Orazio de Ferrari's frescoes of Alexander the Great's surrender and a throne beneath a red silk canopy.
Access involves walking uphill through narrow lanes from the harbor or parking areas below. Guided tours run continuously through the day during opening months, and visitors should arrive early in summer to avoid long waits.
Each day at noon, guards in summer and winter uniforms perform a ceremony that follows a protocol unchanged for decades. The ritual draws crowds to the square, where visitors can watch the formal handover from just a few steps away.
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