Sixty people woke up on Christmas morning in Monaco hotel rooms rather than their own homes, after a retaining wall monitoring crisis escalated dramatically on Christmas Eve.

Authorities ordered immediate evacuation of buildings in Monaco and neighbouring Beausoleil at 2:15pm on 24th December, giving residents barely three hours to pack before spending the festive period in emergency accommodation. By 6pm, all had been installed in a Monaco hotel offering Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day lunch, according to a Monaco government press release.

The dramatic intervention came after monitoring equipment detected what Minister of Equipment and Urban Development Céline Caron-Dagioni described as a “critical alert threshold” in the hours before evacuation.

“We wanted to allow families to spend Christmas in complete safety rather than with their eyes fixed on an indicator,” Caron-Dagioni told journalists at a 3pm press conference, as firefighters and police were knocking on doors in the evacuation zone.

A week of mounting tension

The Christmas Eve evacuation capped a tense week that began quietly enough. On Saturday 20th December, the government announced that 840 high school students would start January term remotely due to concerns about the retaining wall above their temporary campus at the former Collège Charles III.

By that afternoon, workers were installing active ties on the failing wall to control pressure from the embankment above. The Annonciade car park closed on Monday.

But the real alarm came Tuesday afternoon. At 5pm, the government warned residents in the “geotechnical influence zone” that evacuation might be necessary. An hour later, according to Monaco Matin, residents of the Virginia Palace and Point du Jour buildings in Monaco began receiving letters from police.

“Prepare a bag containing clothing changes for four to five days,” the letters advised, along with toiletries, essential documents and necessary medications. Across the border in Beausoleil, municipal police delivered similar warnings to residents at 24 and 26 Boulevard Guynemer.

Less than 24 hours later, the evacuation began.

On Wednesday morning, Minister of State Christophe Mirmand convened a crisis meeting. Monaco Matin reporters in the Annonciade neighbourhood spotted the first signs of mobilisation at 2pm: firefighters, police and Prince’s Carabiniers converging on the former college. At 3pm, the government summoned journalists to the Ministry of State for the press conference.

Simultaneous cross-border operation

Sixteen minutes later, the operation began on both sides of the border. Monaco evacuated Virginia Palace and Point du Jour, according to a government press release. Beausoleil evacuated 24 and 26 Boulevard Guynemer after activating its Municipal Safeguard Plan in coordination with Monaco and French state authorities, a Beausoleil municipal statement confirmed. Monaco Matin reported that 31 Rue des Orchidées residents in Beausoleil were also evacuated.

Colonel Tony Varo, Superior Commander of the Public Force, detailed the choreography: “Avenue de l’Annonciade has been neutralised and will be closed to traffic and pedestrians for obvious safety reasons. The area was secured, then firefighters and police presented themselves to residents who had been identified beforehand.”

Prince’s Carabiniers ferried residents to the hotel in two specially chartered minibuses, Monaco Matin reported.

The minister explained what monitoring equipment had detected: “The pressure observed in recent days on the wall has been stabilised, but at a level that remains too high in terms of prevention.” She confirmed the nearby Tour Odéon tower, structurally independent, remained outside the safety perimeter.

Minister of Social Affairs and Health Christophe Robino told the press conference that multiple government departments had mobilised to support evacuees throughout the process, with teams ready to redirect anyone who hadn’t been contacted and might arrive seeking help.

Decades of surveillance

The wall has been monitored since the 1970s and equipped with sensors since the 2000s. Reinforcement work began in July 2025, with surveys during October half-term. But recent monitoring revealed accelerated deformation requiring urgent intervention.

Authorities are finalising studies to identify an alternative site for the 840 Albert I High School students, whose remote learning “will be temporary”, the government stated. Details will be announced early this week.

The government is expected to provide another update on Monday before confirming where students will continue their education.

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Photo of Monaco’s Ministry of State, credit Cassandra Tanti