jump to navigation

The Royal Palace Monaco: A Mediterranean fortress transformed into a gracious house part 2 May 5, 2008

Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Destination, England, France, Library, London, Memorial, Monaco, Museum , trackback

There were three towers along the main wing where the lords lived: St Mary’s Tower, the Middle Tower and the South Tower. To the right a round building guarded the entrance to the castle, for military strength was still its main purpose. As artillery improved, the art of defence was modified to meet the new threat. Honores new system of defence was based on two main points, All Saints Tower and the Serravalle Bastion. The first, of semi-circular shape, guarded the end of the rocky promontary. It had a platform for guns and was connected to shelters, hacked out of the rock, in which cannon were also placed. Underground passages connected it with the Serravalle Bastion, which consisted of three storeys of vaulted casemates, and which was likewise armed with guns.

It was Prince Honoré II (1604-1662) who transformed the castle into a palace. Its forbidding aspect was modified by adding decorative embellishments to the main facade. New buildings, including a chapel surmounted by an elegant cupola, closed the west side of the main courtyard, while the finishing touches were put to the wing containing the State Rooms by adding to it a magnificent suite of drawing rooms.

Travel GuidebookHonoré II laid out a French-type garden on the side facing the sea and adorned it with a charming summer-house. This summer-house, known as the Bath Pavilion, is reached by going through an arcaded porch, decorated with statues, which leads in to a suite of rooms. There is an elliptical swimming pool in the largest room, surrounded by figures of gods and goddesses set in niches. These works were all carried out under the direction of the Genoese architect Jacques Cantone. Another Genoese artist, the painter Orazzio Ferrari, adorned the first-floor balcony of the state rooms by frescoes of The Labours of Hercules. It was he who painted the big fresco that covers the ceiling of the Grimaldi Room (now called the Throne Room) showing an incident from The History of Alexander the Great. All state ceremonials have been held in the Throne Room since the sixteenth century, and here it is that fealty is sworn at the accession of each Prince.

Prince Honore II assembled a huge and valuable collection of works of art. Among other items mentioned in the inventory made after his death are seven hundred paintings reputed to be work of the greatest masters, but mention need only be made here of several portraits by Titian, of which one was of Charles V and another of the Prince of Valdetare.

Honoré II was succeeded by his grandson, Louis I. He it was who had a huge doorway made in the main frontage of the palace, topped by a pediment bearing the princely arms. He also constructed a great twin marble staircase in the main courtyard ; the harmony of its line is reminiscent of the staircase built in the courtyard of the palace of Fontainebleau by the architect Jean du Cerceau. The architrave of the new door and the flight of steps in the main courtyard were both designed by Antoine Grigho, an architect from the region of Como.

Prince Louis I was famous for his prodigality and when he visited England in 1677 and spent some time in London, he vied with the English King Charles II in the bounteous gifts he showered upon Hortense Manzini of whom both he and Charles were enamoured.

Prince Antoine I further embellished the so-called Royal Room. He commissioned the Genoese painter Gregorio de Ferrari and Alexandre Haffner from Bologna to paint a figure of Fame on the ceiling and to place figures of the Four Seasons in the lunettes.

Louise-Hippolyte, Antoine I’s daughter, her husband Jacques I and their son Honoré III but rarely visited the Principality. Honoré happened to be there, however, when illness forced King George III of England’s brother, Edward Duke of York, to land at Monaco in 1767. He was received at the palace and died in the Royal Bedchamber, known since then as the York Room. George III, in return for the Prince of Monaco’s hospitality, invited him to visit the English Court. This he did the next year and was granted the honours due to a sovereign.

The palace was a splendid place at the end of the eighteenth century. Unfortunately it did not escape the fury of the French Revolution. France annexed the Principality of Monaco on February 14, 1793. The furniture and the beautiful art collections in the palace were soon put up for auction and the buildings were used as barracks and then served as a poor house.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
The Royal Palace Monaco: A Mediterranean fortress transformed into a gracious house part 2

Comments»

no comments yet - be the first?


LogoAlexa CounterFeedBurner Counter