Oceanographic Museum of Monaco — science museum
Berthold Werner · CC BY-SA 3.0

Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

Musée océanographique de Monaco

  • 2 min read
  • 43.731° N 7.425° E

Interesting facts

  • The tropical alga Caulerpa taxifolia, kept in the museum's aquarium, was first found in the sea just below the building in 1984 and later spread across the Mediterranean.
  • Experiments on marine toxins aboard Prince Albert I's research yacht led Charles Richet to discover anaphylaxis, earning him the 1913 Nobel Prize in medicine.
  • More than half of the natural history collection was gathered by Albert I himself during 28 scientific campaigns at sea.
  • Its basement aquarium, in operation for more than a century, is among the oldest public aquariums in Europe.
  • The Whale Room displays the suspended skeleton of a fin whale about 18 metres long.
  • The Institut océanographique, the foundation that runs the museum, was set up by Albert I in 1906, four years before the building opened.
  • Construction on the cliff of the Rock lasted from 1899 to 1910, and the museum celebrated its centenary in March 2010.

Why it is worth it

Built into the sheer southern face of the Rock of Monaco, the Oceanographic Museum rises some 85 metres straight out of the Mediterranean, a palace of pale stone whose foundations seem to grow from the cliff itself. It was the creation of Prince Albert I, a sovereign who spent much of his life at sea as a pioneering oceanographer, and it was inaugurated in 1910 after eleven years of work that consumed around 100,000 tonnes of stone quarried at La Turbie, in the hills above the principality. The architecture is a sumptuous Baroque Revival, and the façade carries the names of twenty research ships chosen by the prince — a roll of honour for the vessels that opened up the study of the oceans.

The museum is the showcase of the Institut océanographique, the foundation Albert I set up to spread knowledge of the sea, and it combines a historic museum with a great aquarium. Upstairs, the grand halls display the prince's scientific legacy: models of ships, instruments, skeletons of marine animals, and objects crafted from pearl, shell and nacre; one exhibition follows his research yacht Hirondelle. Downstairs the aquarium presents Mediterranean and tropical ecosystems, with rays, eels, jellyfish, seahorses and a large shark lagoon. From 1957 to 1988 the museum was directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and in recent years contemporary artists such as Damien Hirst and Philippe Pasqua have shown work among the collections.

Leave time for the roof. The panoramic terrace, home to a turtle island, looks along the coast of the Riviera and straight down the cliff to the water below — the best way to understand how boldly the building was set on its rock.

Getting there

The museum stands on the Rock (Monaco-Ville), about 0.8 km from the centre of the principality. Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) is roughly 19 km away. From Monaco-Monte-Carlo railway station, buses 1 and 2 take about ten minutes to the stops near the museum. By car, the Chemin des Pêcheurs car park lies beneath the building, with lifts and escalators up to the entrance.

Plan your visit

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Nearby places

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From the encyclopaedia

The Oceanographic Museum, is a museum of marine sciences in Monaco City, Monaco. This building is part of the Institut océanographique, which is committed to sharing its knowledge of the oceans.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

43.73083, 7.42528per Wikidata