An F.P. Journe Centigraphe Souverain, a historic Rolex Sea-Dweller Comex 3497, and monumental sculptures by Arnaldo Pomodoro and César led the charge during the Monaco Auction Week’s summer sales, which collectively brought in €15.68 million across six auctions.
Held from 6th to 8th July at the Hôtel Hermitage in Monte-Carlo, the Monaco Auction Week confirmed the Principality’s standing as a hub for collectors of fine art, haute horlogerie, and rare jewels. Organised by French auction house Artcurial, the three-day event brought together connoisseurs from around the world, achieving a combined total of €15,680,888 ($17,901,964) including fees.
Success in fine horology
The collection of fine watches saw significant momentum, with 93% of the lots finding buyers. A standout piece was the F.P. Journe Centigraphe Souverain, which reached a final price of €317,760. Another highlight was the sale of a Rolex Sea-Dweller COMEX 3497 for €244,940. This watch held particular historical significance, having been owned by Muriel Sivazlian, the first female commercial diver in France and an iconic figure at Comex.
Jewellery and luxury accessories
The jewellery auctions featured high-profile items that generated substantial interest. A 1955 Cartier parure, originating from the collection of a renowned French actress, was sold for €390,580. Furthermore, a pair of Art Deco earrings saw intense bidding, eventually reaching €251,560—a figure that was 31 times higher than the original estimate. The luxury accessories market also remained robust, with a 2018 Hermès Birkin Himalaya 25 bag selling for €119,160.
Monumental sculptures in the gardens
In addition to the indoor sales, the sculptures exhibited in the gardens of Monaco attracted considerable attention from collectors. Two major works achieved notable prices during the proceedings: Cubo I by Arnaldo Pomodoro was auctioned for €890,910, while the sculpture Pouce by César was sold for €635,520. These results underscore the sustained demand for large-scale contemporary works within the Monegasque market.
Two dealers from the Casino de Monte-Carlo secured a top-three finish and dominated the technical categories at the 2026 European Dealer Championship in Germany, competing against nearly 40 professionals from 20 nations.
Manon Martire, who has worked as a gaming employee at the casino since 2022, claimed third place in the overall championship standings. Her colleague, Christopher Elena, a gaming employee since 2016, stood out for his technical precision. Elena won the ‘Best Push Stacks’ and ‘Best Chip Cutting’ awards, and he went on to sweep the side competitions, where he was named Best Chipper, Best Card Handler, and Best Mathematician.
The results follow a period of international recognition for the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer. The group’s recent achievements include a first-place finish by Noémie Serra in 2024, the ‘Best Slot Machine Team’ title in 2025, and the ‘Best Overall Casino 2026’ award at the European Casino Awards in Barcelona this past January.
The role of internal training
The team’s success in Baden-Baden from 8th to 10th June reflects the strength of Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer’s in-house training programme. Established in 2014 under the direction of Christophe Teissier, the Monte-Carlo SBM Academy is managed by training manager Alexis Schroeter and coordinator Jean-René Manfredi. The programme provides comprehensive instruction across six casino games: blackjack, Texas Hold’em Ultimate Poker, English roulette, craps, punto banco and European roulette.
Designed to pass on specialist expertise from one generation of gaming professionals to the next, the Academy continues a tradition that has been central to the Casino de Monte-Carlo since its opening in 1863. Open to candidates without prior casino experience, the programme focuses on developing talent internally, helping to maintain the high standards of professionalism and operational excellence for which Monte-Carlo SBM is known.
In partnership with the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, Monaco Life proudly presents a monthly series spotlighting the lives and artistic contributions of the Foundation’s remarkable Award winners.
For Tony Award-winning scenic designer Rachel Hauck, theater is about more than creating beautiful spaces—it’s about shaping the way audiences experience a story. From the industrial mythology of Hadestown to the immersive spectacle of the Tony-nominated Cats: The Jellicle Ball, Hauck has built a career transforming stages into dynamic worlds that invite audiences to see familiar stories in entirely new ways.
Since receiving a Princess Grace Award in Theater in 1998, Rachel Hauck has become one of the most acclaimed scenic designers of her generation. Her Broadway credits include Hadestown, Swept Away, Good Night, Oscar, and What the Constitution Means to Me, and her dedication to fostering new work and mentoring the next generation of artists has extended her impact far beyond the stage.
In this conversation, Hauck reflects on the impact of the Princess Grace Foundation, the collaborative nature of theater, the creative risks behind Cats: The Jellicle Ball, and why live performance continues to offer audiences something no other art form can.
On the Princess Grace Foundation-USA
You received the Princess Grace Award in 1998, early in your career. What did that recognition mean to you at the time?
To be recognised with this award – to be seen as worthy of it – foundationally changed my self confidence. I was struggling, trying to find my voice, and in an absolutely perilous financial situation.
Honestly, I was a bit shocked. I had been working so intensely, making work I was passionate about. The gift of being recognised with such an incredible honor made me feel like my voice artistically had value, and the financial support made it possible for me to continue.
Photo credit: Brianne Stewart
What has being part of the Princess Grace Foundation artistic community meant throughout your career?
This community is a broad network and shared family, it is a community that I cherish.
I have always had a great desire to give back to the PGF because of the significant impact the recognition had for me. I have been honored to be a part of a few of the grant panels, searching for the next generation of artists. And of course, it’s always fun to discover that artists with whom I have worked were also supported by the Foundation.
Do you feel Princess Grace’s legacy still resonates within today’s theater world?
Absolutely. This support fuels and supports the next generation in a moment when there is even less of that support out in the world. I am fortunate to have two recent grantees currently working with me: Sim Carpenter (Theater, 2024) and Diggle (Theater, 2023) who were recognised a year apart.
Diggle has been working with me for a long time, most recently on ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’. And I met Sim at the PGF gala when they were both recognised. Sim is an incredible artist and presence, and I immediately invited him to come work with me when he graduated from NYU, which he did.
Sim and Diggle are both powerful designers in their own right. I’m excited to have them in the studio for as long as they would like to stay and help them in any way that I can, and of course I am most excited to see what brilliant work they make .
Photo credit: Tess Meyer
On Mentorship
What advice would you give emerging scenic designers trying to find their artistic voice?
I am proud to have been a mentor to many young designers who have worked with me in my studio as Diggle and Sim are currently. You get to see so much when you are working with someone, and what you learn is never quite what you expected to learn. I hope that being here has been a help to the folks who have been with me.
Young people write to me often seeking advice, I’m incredibly moved by that. My feedback varies based where people are in their lives and careers, but one thing is constant. I always suggest that people see as much theater as they can, and discover artists whose work inspires them or provokes them, scares them or moves them to tears. To continue to look for the new work that excites them. And then to go to work.
Jump into the deep end of the pool and start swimming. Immerse yourself in what’s happing around you and make as much work as you can. That’s the best way to find your voice.
On What’s Next
What projects or creative ideas are inspiring you most right now?
I’m working on a number of things that I’m excited about. I’m working on a new musical called ‘Galileo’ which will open on Broadway in the fall. It’s a fantastic new rock musical by Zoe Sarnak, Michael Weiner and Danny Strong, directed by Michael Mayer. I’m excited by what they see in Galileo’s story, and how much it resonates with the current political climate.
Today, I’m in rehearsals for a new musical adaptation of ‘Eugene Onegin’ by the great Sarah Gancher, directed by my dear friend Rachel Chavkin. It’s terrific, a bluegrass musical with an impossible amount of talent on stage, and it’s changing every second as we discover it with the audience. We are currently in previews, and we just turned the third act upside down this afternoon. We’ll see what happens tonight!
Photo credit: Rico Lebron
On Theater Today
What do you think audiences are craving from live theater right now?
I think people are always craving the human experience. Something happens when you’re in a room hearing a story with a thousand other people, or 200 other people, or 10 other people. You share a story and an experience with a roomful of strangers, and you become a community.
There’s something absolutely profound about hearing a story that is so different than any of your lived experience. You have a chance to intimately experience someone elses world – or at least corner of their world – and maybe understand something you’ve never understood before.
There’s also something profound about seeing yourself represented on stage in some way. I think that’s part of the reason why ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’ has meant so much to so many.
Many, many people in the queer community are seeing themselves on stage for the first time, in some form. And many people outside the queer community are being invited into a joy that they have not known, and sharing that experience with in the community of 1,200 people. That is deeply powerful.
There’s no other art form like this one. It is ancient, it is human, like listening to someone telling you a story in the dark. There’s just nothing else like it.
On Monaco
Have you spent much time in Monaco? What would your ideal day in the Principality look like?
I was in Monaco once, when I was quite young. I was traveling around Europe by myself with a backpack. I got off the train in Monaco, chained my backpack to a tree, and for an afternoon, I walked everywhere in Monaco I could go, and stayed until the last train left for the Youth Hostel in the next town.
I just really loved being there, it is a city of dreams. I loved getting a glimpse of the Casino and a sense of the city. This was years before I had the incredible honor of receiving the Princess Grace Award which has meant so much to me. Maybe someday I’ll get to go back.
La Vigie sits in one of the most remarkable locations in Monaco. Hidden among the pine trees at the end of the Monte-Carlo Beach peninsula, with the Mediterranean wrapping around the rocks below, it feels less like dining in Monaco and more like stumbling across a restaurant on a quiet stretch of the Italian coast. Which is why this year’s take-over by renowned Italian chef Simone Zinone is such a natural fit.
For the 2026 season, Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer has transformed the historic La Vigie into La Vigie Zanoni Monte-Carlo, inviting the Lombard-born chef behind Paris’ Michelin-starred Le George to spend the summer overlooking the Mediterranean.
In true Zanoni style, the menu is a celebration of Italian cuisine – fresh pasta, crudos, seafood, grilled meats and vegetables that are built around seasonal ingredients; classics including Tortellini Carbonara, Milanese veal cutlet and braised veal agnolotti sit alongside pizzas, risottos and generous antipasti.
Among the dishes created exclusively for La Vigie is Tagliolini with Caviar and Champagne — a subtle nod to the restaurant’s Monaco address.
But what impresses me most about this restaurant is the simplicity. The ingredients speak for themselves, the cooking is not overly complicated, and the menu encourages exactly the kind of relaxed dining that Italian cuisine is famous for.
The terrace of La Vigie Zanoni Monte-Carlo. Photo source: Monte-Carlo SBM
Order for the table
If there’s one piece of advice I’d give anyone visiting La Vigie Zanoni, it’s this: don’t order your own meal.
Order for the table instead.
Choose several dishes, open a good bottle of wine and share everything. It transforms luch or dinner into a much more convivial experience, reminiscent of a long family meal at an Italian nonna’s house, where conversation flows as naturally as the food arriving at the table.
It’s a menu designed to be enjoyed together.
Chef Simone Zanoni at La Vigie Zanoni. Photo source: Monte-Carlo SBM
Don’t skip the cocktails
Before dinner, spend a little time with the cocktail menu.
The Italian-inspired signature creations are among the strongest I’ve tried in Monaco this summer. The Bellini Reale, made with homemade white peach purée and Champagne, is beautifully balanced, while the Monte-Carlo Negroni brings together Prince Explorer Gin, Monte-Carlo Vermouth Rosso and Campari in a refined take on the classic.
The cocktails suit the setting — elegant, relaxed and best enjoyed before the first plate arrives.
Keep room for dessert
Whatever you do, save room for dessert. The tiramisu is everything you hope it will be – light, indulgent and beautifully balanced – while the passionfruit and mango panna cotta offers a fresher, more summery finish. But perhaps the most enjoyable way to end the meal is with the restaurant’s generous vanilla gelato, served for sharing with bowls of chocolate sauce, fresh strawberries, hazelnuts and, naturally, Nutella. Like much of the menu, it’s designed to be passed around the table.
Nestled in a protected bird forest and overlooking the rocky shores of the Mediterranean, La Vigie is unlike anything else in Monaco. Photo by Cassandra Tanti
Getting there
Reaching La Vigie is part of the experience. Guests can arrive through Monte-Carlo Beach or take the complimentary boat shuttle from Port Hercule, which crosses the bay in around 15 minutes during the summer season. Approaching from the water only reinforces the sense that you’ve escaped the city for the evening.
It’s a short journey, but it feels much further.
For anyone looking for one of Monaco’s most memorable dinner settings this summer, La Vigie Zanoni is difficult to overlook. Not because it’s the newest restaurant in the Principality, or because a Michelin-starred chef is in the kitchen.
Because few places in Monaco feel quite like this.
Two men have been remanded in custody without bail over the murder of Anastasia Berezovska, the Ukrainian woman named as the chief suspect in the 29th June bomb attack in Monaco, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has said. At the request of prosecutors, a court ordered both men detained on Thursday, with no bail set, as suspects in what investigators describe as the intentional murder of Berezovska by a group acting in prior conspiracy.
According to a statement by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General, released Thursday 9th July, the two are accused of premeditated murder committed by a group of people in a preliminary conspiracy, an offence under Article 115 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. They had been formally notified of suspicion in Berezovska’s killing on 7th July, in a crime that prosecutors say was carried out after her return to Ukraine.
How the case unfolded
Anastasia Berezovska arrived in Ukraine on 1st July, two days after the 29th June attack on a family in Monaco that injured three people, including a child. On 3rd July, Monaco named her as the chief suspect and placed her on Interpol’s international wanted list on suspicion of involvement in the bombing.
Ukrainian investigators say that, after her return, they traced her contacts and movements and examined two men now charged with her murder — a former law enforcement officer and a serving officer of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) of the Ministry of Defence — who, according to prosecutors, had repeatedly transferred cryptocurrency and money to her accounts. Prosecutors say one of the suspects then admitted the killing and named the other as taking part, and that his testimony led investigators to her body.
Cooperation with Monaco
All the information gathered has been passed to the investigative authorities in Monaco, the Prosecutor General’s Office said, and Ukrainian law enforcement is continuing to identify those who ordered the attack and others who may have been involved in the attempted murder of the family in Monaco. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
