At the end of the 1950s, the car enthusiast Prince Rainier III began collecting old cars. His collection gradually grew over the years as he acquired more and more models, and the garage at the Prince's Palace soon emerged as too small to contain this collection of around a hundred stunning streamlined and sporty cars, from majestic body work to gleaming hoods and regal radiator grills!
In 1993, Prince Rainier III therefore decided to open his precious collection to the public.
Located on the Terrasses de Fontvieille, the exhibition spans 5 000 m2 and is unique in the world, bringing together around a hundred-odd different cars, from a 1903 DE DION BOUTON to the 2013 LOTUS F1 via HISPANO SUIZA, ROLLS ROYCE, LINCOLN, FACEL VEGA, DELAGE, DELAHAYE, PACKARD, HUMBER, NAPIER, FERRARI, MASERATI, LAMBORGHINI, ALFA ROMEO, the LEXUS used for the royal wedding in 2011, and without forgetting the racing cars seen at the Monte Carlo Rally and the Formula 1s from the Monaco Grand Prix.
Casino de Monte-Carlo, the great luxury of gaming For more than 150 years, The Casino de Monte-Carlo, Jewel of architecture, has long been a global gaming reference. An exclusive experience of the great luxury of gaming, a blend of tradition and reinvention that raises Monaco as the most prestigious gaming destination in Europe. Casino Square is one of the most iconic spots in Monaco and any James Bond fans will want to make the trip here. The square is the home of the Casino of Monte Carlo which was made famous in the book Casino Royale, but if you don’t have the cash to gamble the night away then a visit to the square is probably the next best thing. Created by Riccardo Giraudi, Grubers Burgers is an innovative fast casual concept serving gourmet burgers, fries, and drinks. The secret is inside. 79,90 € Add to cart + Pyramide. 49,90 € Add to cart +. La Chocolaterie de Monaco, Place de la Visitation 98000 Monaco-Ville 98000 Monaco Tel. Official website of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco. News of the princely family: press releases, speeches, videos, photos. Discover the history of the Palace and the Grimaldi family.
For more information, please consult the Website of the Cars Collection of H.S.H. the Prince of Monaco: http://www.mtcc.mc
Exceptional closure from November 5th to December 31st, 2020.
How to get there
For further information
All price details are available on the following link : http://www.mtcc.mc/fr/billeterie
Casino de Monte-Carlo | |
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Casino de Monte-Carlo in the Principality of Monaco | |
Location | Monte Carlo, Monaco |
Opening date | 1863; 157 years ago |
Signature attractions | Opéra de Monte-Carlo |
Casino type | Land-Based |
Coordinates | 43°44′22″N7°25′44″E / 43.73944°N 7.42889°ECoordinates: 43°44′22″N7°25′44″E / 43.73944°N 7.42889°E |
Website | www.montecarlosbm.com/en/casino-monaco/casino-monte-carlo |
The Monte Carlo Casino, officially named Casino de Monte-Carlo, is a gambling and entertainment complex located in Monaco. It includes a casino, the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the office of Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo.[1]
The Casino de Monte-Carlo is owned and operated by the Société des bains de mer de Monaco, a public company in which the Monaco government and the ruling royal family have a majority interest. The company also owns the principal hotels, sports clubs, foodservice establishments, and nightclubs throughout the Principality.
The citizens of Monaco are forbidden to enter the gaming rooms of the casino.[2]
The idea of opening a gamblingcasino in Monaco belongs to Princess Caroline,[3] a shrewd, business-minded spouse of Prince Florestan. Revenues from the proposed venture were supposed to save the House of Grimaldi from bankruptcy. The ruling family's persistent financial problems became especially acute after the loss of tax revenue from two breakaway towns, Menton and Roquebrune, which declared independence from Monaco in 1848 and refused to pay taxes on olive oil and fruit imposed by the Grimaldis.
In 1854, Charles, Florestan's son and future Prince of Monaco, recruited a team of Frenchmen—writer Albert Aubert and businessman Napoleon Langlois—to devise a development plan and write a prospectus to attract 4 million francs needed to build a spa for the treatment of various diseases, a gambling casino modeled from the Bad Homburg casino, and English-styled villas. Granted the concession of 30 years to operate a bathing establishment and gaming tables, Aubert and Langlois opened the first casino at 14 December 1856 in Villa Bellevu. Intended to be only a temporary location, the building was a modest mansion in La Condamine.
In the late 1850s, Monaco was an unlikely place for a resort to succeed. The lack of roads needed to connect Monaco to Nice and the rest of Europe, and the absence of comfortable accommodations for visitors, as well as the concessionaires' failure to publicize the new resort, resulted in far fewer customers than was originally anticipated. Unable to raise the capital needed to operate the money-losing enterprise, Aubert and Langlois ceded their rights to Frossard de Lilbonne, who in turn passed it to Pierre Auguste Daval in 1857.[4]
During this initial period, the casino had been moved several times, until it finally ended up in the area called Les Spelugues (English: The Caves). Construction at this site began on 13 May 1858 to designs of the Parisian architect Gobineau de la Bretonnerie[5] and was completed in 1863. Gobineau de la Bretonnerie also designed the neighboring Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo (constructed in 1862).[6]
Although the casino began to make a profit in 1859, Daval was not up to the task. Just like his predecessors, he was incompetent and lacked the ability to bring the gambling enterprise to the scale envisioned by Princess Caroline.[7] Frustrated, she dispatched her private secretary M. Eyneaud to Germany, hoping to recruit François Blanc, a French entrepreneur and operator of the Bad Homburg casino. Blanc declined the offer. It took a lot of time and persuasion on the part of Princess Caroline to convince the Blancs to move to Monaco. Princess Caroline even appealed to Madame Blanc, whom she befriended during her first visit to Bad Homburg, with a suggestion that Monaco's mild climate would be good for Madame Blanc's ill health.
Finally, in 1863 François Blanc agreed to take over Monaco's casino business. To manage the new venture, a company—the Societe des Bains de Mer et du Cercle des Etrangers—was formed with capital of 15 million francs. Among the prominent investors were Charles-Bonaventure-François Theuret, Bishop of Monaco, and Cardinal Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII. Blanc became the single majority stockholder in the company and received a 50-year concession, which would last until 1913. Blanc used his connections to quickly raise the required capital, and began the massive construction. On Blanc's insistence, the Spelugues area where the gambling complex was located was renamed to make it sound more attractive to casino visitors. A few suggestions were considered, and the name Monte Carlo was chosen in Prince Charles' honor.
In 1878–79, the casino building was transformed and expanded to designs of Jules Dutrou (1819–1885) and Charles Garnier, the architect who had designed the Paris opera house now known as the Palais Garnier. François Blanc knew Garnier because Blanc had provided a loan of at least 4.9 million gold francs to the cash-strapped government of the French Third Republic, so that the opera house, which had been started in 1861, could be completed. It had finally opened in 1875. The alterations to the Casino de Monte Carlo included the addition of a concert hall (designed by Garnier and later named the Salle Garnier), located on the side of the casino facing the sea, and the redesign and expansion of the gaming rooms and public spaces, mostly carried out by Dutrou on the side of the casino facing the Place du Casino, where the Hôtel de Paris Monte-Carlo and the were also located.[8]
In 1880–81, the casino was expanded again, to the east of Dutrou's Moorish Room, by the addition of the Trente-et-Quarante Gaming Room, also designed by Garnier. Subsequent additions and expansions, and the remodeling of the Trente-et-Quarante Gaming Room into the Salle des Américains, have mostly obliterated Garnier's contributions to this part of the casino, except for some ceiling decorations.[9] In 1898–99, the Salle Garnier was remodeled by architect Henri Schmit, primarily in the stage area, so that it would be more suitable for opera and ballet performances. However, much of Garnier's original facade and the interior design of the auditorium itself remain intact.[8] Despite all of the later additions and modifications, the casino still has a distinctly Beaux Arts style.
In 1921, the first Women’s Olympiad was held at the casino gardens.
Until recently, the Casino de Monte-Carlo has been the primary source of income for the House of Grimaldi and the Monaco economy.
The casino has facilities to play a variety of games which include:
The most famous example of the gambler's fallacy occurred in a game of roulette at the Casino de Monte-Carlo in the summer of 1913, when the ball fell in black 26 times in a row. This was an extremely uncommon occurrence, although no more nor less common than any of the other 67,108,863 sequences of 26 red or black. Gamblers lost millions of francs betting against black, reasoning incorrectly that the streak was causing an 'imbalance' in the randomness of the wheel, and that it had to be followed by a long streak of red.[10]
The Casino de Monte-Carlo main entrance
View of the casino illuminated at dusk
The main hall
Roulette tables
The gardens behind the casino with the Salle Garnier in the background
South balcony
Notes
Sources
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