Day: 22 April 2026

Monaco hosted the second edition of the Ancestral Wisdom Summit on 7th April at the Méridien Beach Plaza, bringing together spiritual leaders, institutional representatives, researchers and international participants in what organisers describe as an effort to open dialogue between ancestral knowledge, science and contemporary governance.

The summit was founded and led by Isabella Vieira, whose Respect 360° Code — a protocol for inner transformation in service of systemic change — has attracted interest from the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Systemic Change and is supported by Monaco’s National Council.

The day centred on an immersive experience led by Vieira alongside a spiritual leader of the Nai Baiya Council, during which participants underwent what was described as a collective energetic activation. Testimonials from attendees were strong. Cindy Forde of the University of Cambridge said the experience invited a fundamental rethinking of humanity’s relationship with the world and with life itself. Rhonda Hudson, President of the Kate Powers Foundation, noted that what had begun quietly a few years ago was now claiming its place with strength.

From Monaco to Istanbul

The following day, on 8th April, Monaco’s National Council — under President Thomas Brezzo and Foreign Relations Committee President Fabrice Notari — officially welcomed leaders of the Huni Kuin people of the Amazon. The official guestbook was signed by spiritual leader Pae Nawa and Isabella Vieira, carrying the message: “May the governments of the world open the way to the true leaders of this planet.”

The momentum continued in Istanbul, where Vieira represented Monaco at the 152nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union alongside the National Council — the first time leaders of the Huni Kuin people have carried their voice into an international political dialogue space alongside government representatives. Invited to speak within the WYDE Women’s Leadership initiative, supported by UN Women, Vieira addressed the assembly with a message: “The world does not simply need more leaders. It needs a different kind of leadership — one grounded in respect, connection, and consciousness.”

An Ancestral Parliament of the Earth

The longer-term ambition emerging from these gatherings is the creation of an Ancestral Parliament of the Earth — a space designed to bring together spiritual leaders, Indigenous leaders and international institutions to integrate ancestral wisdom into global decision-making. Academic and institutional partnerships are in development, alongside immersive multi-day formats intended to deepen the transmission of that knowledge.

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Main photo credit: Audrey Ollivier

Cash & Rocket, the global philanthropic platform founded in Monaco by Julie Brangstrup, returns to the United States this month for its second American car tour, culminating in a high-profile finale at the Miami Design District on Sunday 26thApril.

The four-day tour runs from 23rd to 26th April, with an international collective of influential women — spanning entrepreneurs, philanthropists, creatives and public figures — driving 30 luxury sports cars across the American Southeast before arriving in Miami for the closing event. The finale will feature a public car display along 41st Street in the Design District, a curated charity shopping experience and brand activations with partners including Jimmy Choo, Giorgio Armani and Isabella Grutman.

A movement with serious numbers behind it

Since its founding, Cash & Rocket has raised more than $6.6 million and united a global network of more than 2,800 women, including Ashley Graham and Paris Hilton. This year’s US edition supports charities including Style Saves and Sumbandila.

The Miami Design District, an area defined by its convergence of fashion, architecture and public engagement, serves as both the backdrop and a collaborating partner for the finale. According to the organisers, it is a setting that mirrors Cash & Rocket’s own ethos of placing women at the centre of spaces, including automotive culture, that have historically been male-dominated.

The Monaco connection

Cash & Rocket has deep roots in Monaco, where founder Julie Brangstrup built the platform and where the movement’s European editions have taken place. The brand’s expansion into the American market represents a natural extension of a community that has always drawn heavily from Monaco’s international resident base and the global network that gravitates around the Principality each season.

For Monaco Life readers on both sides of the Atlantic, the Miami finale on 26th April is open to the public.

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All photos provided by Cash & Rocket

Artcurial, which maintains a permanent presence in Monaco, will hold two days of auctions in Paris on 11th and 12th May dedicated to archaeology and Oriental art, featuring highlights from two significant private collections alongside a Belgian antiquities collection and a section devoted to Islamic and Indian art.

Monday 11 May sees the second and final part of the collection assembled by Christian Levett, founder of the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins — the museum that for more than a decade placed ancient artefacts in dialogue with modern masters including Picasso, Warhol, Matisse and Damien Hirst before closing in August 2023. Levett spent two decades building what he describes as once the largest and most celebrated collection of ancient arms and armour in private hands, spanning the kingdom of Urartu through classical Greece to the Roman period.

Highlights include a Greek bronze breastplate from the late seventh to early sixth century BC (estimate €50,000–70,000), a Phrygian-type bronze helmet depicting the mythological figure Scylla from the late classical to early Hellenistic period (€60,000–80,000), a Corinthian-type bronze helmet from late sixth century BC Greece (€50,000–80,000) and an important Roman bronze male head from the third century AD (€50,000–80,000).

“I am very proud to present the final sale of my collection,” Levett said. “Having spent fourteen years on the arms and armour committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and eight years on the board of the Ashmolean, I can speak with genuine expertise about the importance and excellence of the pieces presented.”

The Jean-Jacques Rotthier Egyptian collection

Tuesday 12 May opens with the Egyptian antiquities assembled over a lifetime by Jean-Jacques Rotthier (1932–2009), a discreet Belgian collector who lent generously to exhibitions across Europe — from Brussels and Paris to Amsterdam and Venice — without ever seeking recognition. Nearly 70 works covering every period from the predynastic era to the Roman period come to auction seventeen years after his death.

The centrepiece is an exceptional painted wood mummiform coffin and sarcophagus in the name of the Lady Iahtesnakht, from the Saite period, 26th dynasty (664–525 BC), estimated at €120,000–150,000 — completed by a Book of the Dead papyrus held at the University of Cologne. A painted stucco funerary boat model from the Middle Kingdom (estimate €30,000–60,000), chosen to illustrate the cover of the Du Nil à l’Escaut exhibition catalogue, and a rare painted linen shroud from the Roman period (€50,000–80,000) are among the other highlights.

Islamic art and a Belgian private collection

The afternoon of 12 May continues with a Belgian private collection of Mediterranean antiquities including a remarkable Cycladic marble female idol from the Spedos group, dating to 2700–2300 BC (€35,000–40,000). The Islamic and Indian art section features a rare Mughal Quran section from the reign of Aurangzeb (1658–1707), combining floral illuminations and delicate thuluth calligraphy in black and gold (€12,000–15,000), and a Safavid copper-alloy candlestick that once belonged to 19th-century French orientalist Charles Henri Auguste Schefer (€8,000–12,000).

A public exhibition runs from 9 to 11 May at Artcurial’s Paris premises at 7 Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées Marcel Dassault, with viewing by appointment on 12 May.

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Photos source: Artcurial