Rock_of_Monaco

Rock of Monaco

Rock of Monaco

Rock and old town district in Monaco

The Rock of Monaco (French: Rocher de Monaco; Monégasque: Roca de Mùnegu) is a 62-metre (203 ft)[1] tall monolith on the Mediterranean coast of the Principality of Monaco. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and the Port Hercules.[2]

View of the Rock from Tête de Chien

History

The Rock has been a coveted possession from the beginning of the ancient Massilian colony of Monoïkos (Greek: Μόνοικος), named for the Ligurian tribes who occupied the area and vied for control of it; even earlier, it was a shelter for primitive populations. The Rock of Monaco was also the first conquest of the Grimaldi dynasty, the rulers of the country for more than 700 years, founded when the Guelf Francesco Grimaldi disguised himself as a Franciscan friar in order to gain entry to the city and open the gates for his soldiers.

Today

Today, the Rock is in the oldest of Monaco's four quarters, Monaco-Ville, which is also the location of Old Town, the oldest part of the city, not far from the Prince's Palace (French: Le Palais Princier), home of the current monarch Albert II and the princely family, the Cathedral and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. The Rock of Monaco is a popular attraction where tourists view the palace and the changing of the guards.

  • The Rock in 1890
  • Monaco-Ville and harbour of Fontvieille today

References

  1. [1]
    "Provence 7 Monaco-Ville". 15 August 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  2. [2]
    "The Rock of Monaco". Michelin. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2012.

43.731°N 7.424°E / 43.731; 7.424


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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Rock_of_Monaco, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.