For two nights only, three of Monaco’s finest restaurants will be laying on special menus for guests to enjoy during the fireworks displays down in Port Hercule.
That classic Monaco combination of dinner with a show is being elevated this summer in Monaco. In the place of a live band or performance, the attractions on Saturday 22nd July and Saturday 5th August will be world-class fireworks displays laid on by Monaco City Hall.
The Hôtel de Paris’ Em Sherif and Michelin-starred Le Grill, together with the Hôtel Hermitage’s one-star Pavyllon Monte-Carlo by Yannick Alléno, will be hosting special dinner services on these two dates, allowing guests to enjoy their fabulous haute cuisine offerings beneath a brightly lit sky.
The menu at Em Sherif, a restaurant beloved for its authentic yet stylish Lebanese cookery, costs €295 per person, including a welcome glass of champagne. In true Em Sherif style, a place that loves to entertain its patrons, there will also be live music on both nights.
At one-Michelin-starred Le Grill, found on the eighth floor of the Hôtel de Paris, the menu costs €315 per person, including a glass of champagne on entry.
Yannick Alléno’s Pavyllon, with its stunning views across the harbour and up to The Rock, completes the line-up of top Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer restaurants to host a fireworks-themed evening. The seven-course “Hermitage Menu” will be on offer for €260 per person, with wine pairings available for an additional cost.
Fashion influencers and select media were invited to a special brunch in the Hôtel Fairmont Monte-Carlo to hear more about how shopping can be a unique experience in the world of modern technologies, while luxury beauty spa Glam made an exciting announcement.
Local content creators and influencers came together for the event on Monday 10th July, organised by Glam Monte-Carlo and Porterium. They included Martika, Laura Marra, Patricia Gloria Contreras, Olga Lavric, Julia B., Antoniya Toneva and Alina Dyachenko.
After a French breakfast of fresh fruits and croissants, guests heard from top celebrity stylist Nouf Kabbani about the latest trends in the fashion industry.
But the main event was the official launch of Porterium and a speech by its founder, Liliya Tippetts.
Porterium is a pioneering Web3 marketplace for fashion, art and design, which aims to empower emerging fashion brands to accelerate their international business growth. With a global reach and a mission to make fashion accessible worldwide, Porterium wants to bridge the gap between fashion meccas and create a vibrant community of fashion-forward consumers.
The Monaco-based company wll also offer 888 unique Porterium NFT stores for carefully curated international independent fashion brands that will appreciate in value over time. Among those collaborating with Porterium is Victoria Silvstedt, whose exclusive capsule collection ‘Wild Life’ for Marli Dresses will be available online.
Meanwhile, Porterium plans to blend the traditional fashion marketplace with an immersive metaverse experience, which will include fashion shows and art exhibitions.
“We believe in shaping the future of fashion by providing a platform for emerging designers and fashion lovers to connect and grow the Porterium eco-system” said Liliya Tippetts. “With our traditional marketplace, NFT stores and immersive metaverse, we are revolutionising the fashion industry and creating unique shopping experience for customers.”
Glam Monte-Carlo Founder Anna Lunhun, Chic Icon Dubai Founder Alina Dyachenko with Porterium founder founder Liliya Tippetts, and influencer Angela Donava. Photo credit: Kateryna Voroniuk
Glam reveals new partnership with CJL at Hôtel Fairmont
Guests also learned that, in a matter of weeks, the luxury spa brand Glam Monte-Carlo will be opening a new location in the Hôtel Fairmont Monte-Carlo, in collaboration with Carol Joy London (CJL).
Glam Monte-Carlo, which opened a beauty institute in Beausoleil in 2018, will bring in a whole new team of professionals dedicated to providing exceptional service in Monaco.
“At Glam Monte-Carlo and CJL, every client is unique. That’s why the beauty space offers a personalised beauty concept that encompasses a 360-degree approach to beauty,” said Glam founder Anna Lunhu. “From hair to toe, Glam Monte-Carlo and CJL strive to provide the best solutions for our clients’ needs.”
The range of services includes traditional beauty treatments as well as collaborations with medical doctors to offer personalised and innovative treatments.
After the presentations, guests were taken on a tour of the new Glam Monte-Carlo and CJL premises in the Hôtel Fairmont Monte-Carlo, which is due to open in a matter of weeks. Stay tuned!
Make sure you’re never left out of the conversation.
With the recent opening of the Maison du Numérique, a space dedicated to educating the public on the “new technological era”, Monaco is seeking to close the digital divide and ensure its residents are up to speed on the latest developments.
On Friday 7th July, Prince Albert II of Monaco officially cut the ribbon on the Maison du Numérique – or Digital Technology House – that has found a home in the Jardins d’Apolline.
The concept came about through close collaboration between the Prince’s Government, Monaco Telecom and Monaco City Hall, and forms part of the Principality’s wider “digital transformation programme”.
Minister of State Pierre Dartout, who was present at the opening along with numerous officials representing the three backers of the project, said, “The launch of the Maison du Numérique is an important event in making digital technology accessible to everyone in Monaco. We want to ensure that everyone acquires the skills needed to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change. This is vital to the attractiveness of Monaco.”
Minister of State Pierre Dartout at the opening ceremony. Photo credit: Manuel Vitali
It is entirely open to the public, with the aim of ensuring that all Monegasques, residents and employees are “equipped with the understanding and knowledge needed to use the digital products and services available in the Principality”, as explained by the government via an official communiqué.
A place for workshops and conferences
The establishment has been supplied with top-of-the-range equipment, from computers and tablets to smartphones and interactive terminals, in order to facilitate training sessions and workshops that will help bring the population up to speed on the latest tech available. A series of conferences are also set to be announced in the coming months, but residents can already meet with specialists for assistance with any digital tasks they are struggling with.
The new centre is to be a place of learning and assistance. Photo credit: Manuel Vitali
“The risk of a digital divide, across the population and especially for seniors, is a reality,” said Marjorie Crovetto, Second Deputy Mayor for Monaco. “Helping people improve how they use information and communication technology day-to-day is a top priority for us.”
Her enthusiasm for the project was echoed by Martin Peronnet, Chief Executive Officer of Monaco Telecom: “As a telecommunications company, our role is about more than just connectivity. With the opening of the Maison du Numérique, our mission is to support people in this transition, providing them with the tools, knowledge and confidence needed to thrive in this new technological era.
Baby, the elephant rescued from euthanasia by Princess Stephanie a decade ago, has died suddenly, it was announced on Thursday.
Baby and Nepal were two elephants that were welcomed by Princess Stéphanie at the Fonbonne estate in Peille, Alpes Maritimes, 10 years ago on 12th June 2013.
The Baby et Népal association announced on its social networks on Thursday that Baby had passed away “suddenly” at Mont Agel.
It follows the passing of Nepal, who died on 29th April 2018 following chronic kidney failure aged 53.
The elephants were rescued from Cirque Pinder in September 2010 when blood tests wrongly concluded that they had tuberculosis. Zoo officials removed them from the public and – aged 42 and 43 – they were set to be euthanised.
But animal lover and circus advocate Princess Stephanie of Monaco took them in on the Grimaldi’s property of Fonbonne, at the top of Mont Agel.
Over the years, Princess Stephanie developed an extraordinary affection for the elephants.
It is no doubt that the princess, together with the association that she founded, are mourning the lost of Baby, who died at the age of 56.
“The whole team of the Baby and Nepal association is extremely sad to announce the sudden death of Baby,” said the association in its social media post. “After having spent a beautiful retirement at the Fontbonne area, Baby and Nepal rest in peace.”
For three months only, Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum has been transformed into a Claude Monet wonderland, with pieces painted by the Master of Impressionism that have rarely been seen in public before and others that are renowned the world over.
There’s a good reason why the Grimaldi Forum’s summer exhibitions are among the most highly regarded in the world. The giant exhibition space of 2,500sqm is given over to the work of a different artist each year, taking visitors on a unique journey into their creative universe.
This year, it is French painter Claude Monet who takes the spotlight, and through this exhibition, visitors will be able to delve deeper into the mind of the man who invented impressionist painting.
The master of impressionism Claude Monet. Photo by Monaco Life
Claude Monet was a visionary for his time. He founded and led impressionist painting and, throughout his long career, was a prolific practitioner of impressionism’s philosophy of painting nature as one perceived it, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting.
This exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco is being held with the support of the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, and has been curated by Monet-specialist Marianne Mathieu. Over the space of 2,500m2, Marianne Mathieu guides visitors through the mind of Monet, so they can better understand the painter’s quest to capture light.
The exhibition has been made for Monaco and the French Riviera specifically, so it retraces the work of Monet and explores the artist’s stays on the Riviera at a pivotal moment in his life. The route, featuring nearly 100 paintings from all over the world, including many masterpieces rarely presented together – and one unpublished – it offers a new look at the work of the master of impressionism.
A Claude Monet painted series, in which he captured light at different moments on the same subject. Photo by Monaco Life
Through the spectrum of light
In 1883, halfway through his long life yet still in search of inspiration, Claude Monet made his first trip to Monaco and the Riviera, where he met his friend Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
He returned in 1884 and again in 1888, staying in Monaco, Roquebrune, Bordighera and Antibes, where he would feed his quest, his obsession, to capture light. The painter discovered a new palette of colours, and had difficulty painting them. It was during his last stay in Antibes in 1888 that he conceived his famous series of paintings from the Plage de la Salis – the fort of Antibes in all weathers.
“Monet’s work was very coherent, from his youth in Le Havre to the last paintings at Giverny, the painter did not seek to paint a concept but rather a moment,” explained curator Marianne Mathieu during a private press tour ahead of the official opening on 8th July. “Monet did not paint a landscape but an atmosphere. On the Riviera, between 1883 and 1888, there was a maturity, Monet found himself painting series. In Giverny, which he hardly left at the turn of the century, the painter evolved again, changed his point of view, and only painted the mirror of water. Monet abandoned panoramic views in favour of a tight frame, offering an almost abstract vision of water and its reflections. He no longer painted his garden but only the elements of water and light. He painted the picture of a floating world.”
In this exhibition, the curator invites visitors to approach Claude Monet’s work through the spectrum of light: “Let’s not ask ourselves what Monet painted but rather when he painted it.”
There are three main sections to the exhibition, each designed to shed light on Monet’s quest. Photo by Monaco Life
Works rarely exhibited together
In the section dedicated to Claude Monet’s paintings that he made during his stays on the Riviera, more than 20 exceptional works are being exhibited for the first time.
This exhibition is therefore one of the largest monographs devoted to Claude Monet seen in the past decade, and undoubtedly also the most daring, with paintings rarely shown together.
There are spaces for visitors to sit throughout the exhibition and contemplate what they are looking at. Photo by Monaco Life
Practical information
The exhibition ‘Monet: en pleine lumière’ runs from 8th July to 3rd September 2023. It is open every day from 10am to 8pm, with evening visits possible on Thursdays until 10pm.
Admission price is €14, entry is free for those under 18 years.
A reduced price of €11 is available for groups of 10 people or less, students and seniors.
TER customers can present their train ticket for that day and receive a reduced rate of €11.
Guided tours
Public guided tours are available for an additional €10 per person, Thursdays and Sundays at 10.30am, 2.30pm and 5pm, subject to availability.
Private guided tours in English or French are possible for a single price of €370 for a group of up to 25 people, in addition to the entrance price per person.
Audioguides in English or French are also available for an additional €6 and features a 45-minute narration by the curator.
Watch a short film showing the story behind the famous water lilies paintings, gifted to France during the war. Photo by Monaco Life
MONET MORNINGS
For an extra-special treat, guided tours can be taken before the exhibition opens to the general public. The package includes breakfast and a guided tour. It is available from 8.45am to 10.45am for €180 per person on 14th July, 28th July and 11th August, subject to availability.
All the latest news, developments and information from the Principality of Monaco.
Delegation in Tunisia for cooperation talks
Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Monaco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, led a delegation on a working visit to Tunisia between 3rd and 6th July.
The trip included a meeting with the Board of Directors behind MedFund, a trust fund for protected marine zones in the Mediterranean that was established by France, Monaco and Tunisia.
Berro-Amadeï also spoke on the “commitment of the Prince’s Government to entrepreneurship for women and young people in the Mediterranean region” in the context of the support given to two programmes – J-Med for youths in the Mediterranean basin and the Mediterranean New Chance Network for recruitment of young people – by the Principality.
An agreement on a project to back refugees and asylum seekers in their search for employment in Tunisia was also signed during the trip.
Excellent Baccalaureate results a testament to Monaco’s schooling system
After a round of initial results were released last week, the success rate of Monaco’s students in their Baccalaureate exams has been officially revealed. Across all streams of the Bac, there was a 98.9% pass rate and almost eight in 10 pupils received honours.
Minister of State Pierre Dartout attended a ceremony this week to commend the students who received special honours in their Baccalaureate. Photo credit: Manuel Vitali / Monaco Communications Department
Via a press statement, the Monegasque government said, “At the end of this school year, the Prince’s Government once again sends its warmest congratulations to all pupils and students whose efforts and conscientiousness have now been rewarded by results which once again are a credit to the Principality… They illustrate the quality of education in the Principality and the unwavering commitment of the teaching community and staff at schools and at the Department of Education, Youth and Sport.”
Committee for Graduate Employment reflects on a strong 2022
The 13th meeting of the Committee for Graduate Employment (CID), which was founded in 2010 as a way of facilitating “the integration into Monaco’s economy of Monegasque graduates or graduates who have links to the Principality”, took place earlier this month, with members gathering to discuss the developments and progress made in 2022.
Last year saw a significant increase in the number of internships, work-study programmes and “first job” hirings in Monaco, according to the CID.
Also discussed at the meeting was how the so-called “Generation Z” is “changing the world of work” with a unique set of workplace attributes and attitudes that is markedly different from previous age groups, such as a strong sense of self and the confidence to make requests of a potential employer that “their elders would probably not dare to formulate”.
To date, the Committee has helped over 400 young people find first-time employment.
The Committee has so far helped more than 400 young people with connections to the Principality to secure first-time employment. Photo credit: Frédéric Nebinger
€7,500 donation finances new instrument at the Académie Rainier III
The Rotary Club de Monaco has made a generous donation of €7,500 to the Académie Rainier III, enabling the prestigious music and arts school to purchase a spinet, a form of instrument from the harpsichord family.
The Club’s president, Alain Dewé, handed over the cheque in person, alongside the Rotary Club’s soon-to-be new treasurer, Marco Calégari.
Members of the Rotary Club de Monaco with Mayor Georges Marsan. Photo credit: Mairie de Monaco
