Top Marques Monaco will come back to the Grimaldi Forum this spring, with what organisers promise to be the largest edition yet.
The 21st edition of the luxury automotive show, held under the high patronage of Prince Albert II, will take place from 6th to 10th May, brining around 235 vehicles under one roof, including a series of work premieres and Monaco debuts.
The event offers the opportunity for visitors not only to view but also to purchase some of the world rarest and most expensive vehicles.
A key new feature this year is the introduction of a 1,500 square metre Luxury Tuners Hall, dedicated to automotive craftsmanship, one-off builds and customised models, alongside the show’s classic Supercar Hall.
World premieres and Monaco debuts
Among the headline world premieres is the Giamaro Krafla, an Italian hypercar powered by a quad-turbo V12 producing 2,157 PS. Spanish manufacturer Baltasar will also unveil the Revolt, which it describes as the word’s first fully road legal electric track-focused car to meet FIA competition standards.
Additionally, French brand Hedonic Machines is set to debut two new bespoke creations insisted by automotive icons including the Porsche 911 and Land Rover Defender.
Several Monaco debuts are also planned, including the Bovensiepen Zagato, a limited edition grand tourer combining Italian design with German engineering, and a one-off hand-built automobile from Bulgarian manufacturer TP Atelier.
Renowned manufacturers expected to showcase their latest models include Aston Martin, Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti, Lamborghini, McLaren, Pagani, Porsche, as well as Mercedes-Benz, Maserati, Audi and Morgan.
In addition to supercars, the event will also feature motorcycles, luxury boats, an aircraft, and a selection of high-end jewellery and watches.
Top Marques begins on 6th May with a VIP preview, followed by two business days aimed at collectors and buyers on 7th and 8th May, before opening to the public over the weekend. General admission tickets start from €40
Monaco’s Yacht Club de Monaco will host the seventh edition of its Superyacht Chef Competition on 2nd April, uniting some of the world’s finest culinary talents to compete in a unique setting.
The competition, organised through the club’s training centre La Belle Classe Academy with support from Bluewater, aims to shed light on a demanding yet little-known profession: the superyacht chef.
Heading the judging panel for the competition is Philippe Etchebest, a two Michelin starred chef and holder of France’s prestigious Meilleur Ouvrier title. He will be joined by an international lineup of culinary experts, including Italian chef Carlo Cracco, two-Michelin-starred Marcel Ravin from Monaco’s Blue Bay restaurant, and Venezuelan television host Jenny Maltese.
The panel also features superyacht specialist Duncan Biggs, co-founder of Ocean Waves Monaco, and Benjamin Ferrand, who won last year’s competition. German chef and restaurateur Tim Mälzer is expected to join, pending confirmation.
Real word-pressure
The competition format mirrors the demanding conditions chefs face at sea. Contestants will discover a mystery ingredient just moments before they begin cooking and must use all products provided, with penalties for food waste.
“This event showcases chefs who can excel in a challenging, mobile and international setting,” said Bernard d’Alessandri, the Yacht Club’s managing director.
The jury will assess not only technical skill but also adaptability and understanding of the unique constraints of onboard service, where chefs must work in confined spaces while maintaining high standards.
Educational focus
Students from Monaco Hospitality School will participate in running the event, gaining hands-on experience alongside working professionals.
In the run-up to the main competition, the Yacht Club will host the Battle des Chefs on 12th March, a networking event supporting the charity À Chacun Son Cap. Then, on April 1st, the Dîner des Grands Chefs will bring together jury members ahead of the competition itself
Prince Albert II and Princess Anne met during an International Olympic Committee gathering this week, sharing common ground as both IOC members and former Olympic competitors.
Both competed at the Games before taking up positions within the IOC. Prince Albert II represented Monaco in bobsleigh at five consecutive Winter Games between 1988 and 2002.
Meanwhile, Princess Anne competed for Great Britain in equestrian at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
The pair have served as IOC members for nearly four decades, with Prince Albert II joining in 1985 and Princess Anne following three years later in 1988.
That first-hand experience of Olympic competition – the training, the pressure, the values instilled through sport – guides their approach to committee work.
A new exhibition at Monaco’s Musée d’Anthropologie Préhistorique, running until 15th December, is inviting visitors into a world of ancient rituals, sacred objects, and beliefs that shaped the world for generations.
Titled ‘Magies d’Ailleurs – Magics from Elsewhere’, the exhibition brings together around a hundred objects, many rarely seen before, drawn mainly from sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania.
Curated by Dr Philippe Charlier and Dr Elena Rossoni-Notter, Director of the museum, it features collections from the museum and the LAAB, a research unit attached to the Université de Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines / Paris-Saclay.
The exhibition was previously shown in Tours, but has now been significantly expanded for Monaco, with full-scale voodoo altar reconstructions and new acquisitions, including four costumes from the GonGon societies.
“These rituals exist to create a link between generations, but also between people, nature, and the supernatural,” Dr Charlier said during a press tour. “Something that escapes us, that is very subtle.”
Blood and masks
At the heart of the exhibition is the idea that ordinary objects can become alive. Across many cultures, a carved figure or a mask was believed to cross from the lifeless world to the living the moment it was consecrated with blood.
Features were pressed into the wet surface, leaving a visible trace, or rather a sign that the object now carried its own energy. Blood was not a one-off ritual either. It was seen as ongoing nourishment, something the object needed to survive, just as the ancient Greeks believed their gods wither and die without sacrifice.
Masks tell a similar story. They were not costumes but doorways, allowing the one wearing it to be inhabited by a spirit or an ancestor. Over the years, layers of mud, blood, palm oil, and ochre – food for the spiritual being inside – would gather on their surface.
The masks at the exhibition, photo by Monaco Life.
Some masks were forbidden to women, children, and the uninitiated, who could only hear the ceremony from a distance. Others abandoned any recognisable face entirely, becoming pure expressions of dread.
Thrones, bones and tree ferns
Dr Charlier singled out a carved throne from the Indonesian island of Timor. Local belief holds that wandering ghosts cause small but repeated disruptions like a car accident here or a stumble there. When the pattern is noticed, a ritual traps the spirit inside the throne.
“Tradition says the throne vibrates a little from time to time,” Dr Charlier explained, “because it is trying to get out.”
The carved throne, photo by Monaco Life.
Other striking objects in the exhibition are a shield from Papua New Guinea and a votive plank from Irian Jaya that looks, at first glance, simply red and white. However, the red is ochre mixed with human blood, and the white is kaolin mixed with ground human bones. “When you are in front of this object, you see the colours,” Dr Charlier said. “But an initiate knows he is also protected by the blood and bones of an ancestor. It creates a sort of supernatural barrier.”
A carved tree from Vanuatu marks a different kind of transition. When a young man comes of age, a fern is sculpted and planted in from of the man’s house, a marker of his new status and, in a sense, a supernatural double of himself.
Secret societies
The exhibition also explores secret societies, drawing unexpected connections between the Carbonari of 19th-century Italy, Haitian voodoo’s Bizango, European Freemasons, and the Bambara guardians of the Boli in Mali. What binds them is not simply secrecy, but shared initiation rituals that create a lasting bond. Dr Charlier compared entering a secret society to medical specialisation: “When you are initiated, it is as if you were a general practitioner, and if you want to become a surgeon or a specialist, you enter a secret society. That is what it is, in fact.”
However, what needs to be noted is that these practices are not relics. The rituals on display are in many communities still very much alive. They are tools for making sense of the unknown and holding people together across generations.
Magies d’Ailleurs is open everyday from 9am to 6pm. Admission is €5 for adults, €2.50 for students and free for children under 10. Guided tours are also available by reservation only at mediationMAP@gouv.mc and cost €10 per person, with €5 for ages five to ten and free for kinds under five.
Monaco is rolling out sweeping justice reforms this year aimed at restoring public trust and tackling financial crime. Secretary of State for Justice Samuel Vuelta Simon outlined the plans during a New Year speech on Thursday, highlighting a full agenda that includes modernising institutions, strengthening legal resources, and boosting transparency.
The conference comes as Monaco assumes the chairmanship of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers this spring, 22 years after joining the organisation. The role will culminate in an informal conference of European justice ministers on 16th June focused on combating money laundering.
Restoring Monaco’s image
Vuelta Simon acknowledged that Monaco’s justice system faced hard judgement and unflattering perceptions at times. However, he insisted the reality was quite different.
“I quickly discovered its true face,” he said. “It is high quality justice that motivates its decisions, that knows neither uncontrolled backlogs nor significant delays, with committed actors and professionals who genuinely love the profession they have chosen to practise.”
He explained that Prince Albert II had given him a clear mandate: to restore serenity to Monaco’s justice system, maintain its independence, and modernise it to meet both national realities and international challenges.
To improve the system’s image, Monaco now publishes legal information to make it more accessible and, back in June, it launched a new journal called ‘Monaco Droit’, to make the justice system more understandable to the public.
Strengthening resources
To reinforce resources, a financial section was established within the Attorney General’s Office in September with two experienced magistrates, responding to recommendations from international evaluators. An audit of its effectiveness will be conducted in the coming weeks.
Additionally, a judicial reserve system, approved by the National Council in November, will allow around 10 experienced magistrates to temporarily reinforce courts when needed. Implementation will begin in the coming weeks.
Lastly, the attorney general’s office recruited two new prosecutors in 2025, with additional recruitments planned for 2026, focusing on candidates with experience in areas of public concern in Monaco.
Vuelta Simon also welcomed renewed interest from Monégasque students in the judiciary, calling it a “strong signal we have all been waiting for”. Recruitment processes for several new Monégasque magistrates will open within months.
Modernisation programme
To boost digital modernisation, the Justice Secretariat will launch a website in 2026, providing information about its services and activities. The department will also relocate from its current premises to free up space for judicial recruitment.
Digitalisation will continue with the modernisation of the criminal records system, with the aim of eventually connecting to those of neighbouring countries. Paper documentation was abandoned in 2025.
Reviews of the status of prison staff, magistrates, and court clerks are also planned to improve recruitment. The statuses of superior courts, including the Supreme Court, Court of Review, and Council of State, will also be examined.
Legislative reforms
Several legislative initiatives have also been launched to modernise the legal profession. Work is underway with the Bar Council on legal aid, court appointments, and regulation of the profession itself.
Similar collaboration with the Principality’s three bailiffs has resulted in updated tariffs and reforms to property sales procedures. A bill containing provisions for guilty pleas and criminal settlements is currently under examination by the National Council.
Reforms to prevent, detect, and punish corruption amongst high-ranking officials are also planned under the Council of Europe’s GRECO programme.
Samuel Vuelta Simon explained that the reforms aim for long-term sustainability rather than simply achieving international ratings. Progress with the Financial Action Task Force showed increasing improvements at each meeting, he said, with regular exchanges demonstrating Monaco’s commitment to best practices.
The Junior Economic Chamber of Monaco (JCI) has outlined its plans for 2026, including new initiatives for students and changes to existing programmes.
Lucas Dubois, appointed President of JCI for 2026, explained the changes at a press conference on Thursday January 29th alongside Vice-President for Entrepreneurship Julien Vivarelli and Vice-President for Attractivity Luxmaan Sellappah.
The main addition is Monaco Junior Impact, a new student entrepreneurship programme launching this year. It will connect students from the International University of Monaco with business mentors to develop community-focused event proposals over four months. Student teams working within set budgets will pitch their ideas to a jury in late April, with the winning project receiving full JCI Monaco funding for delivery in June.
“The students will experience the entire entrepreneurial journey, from finding the idea to respecting a budget, finding the right partners to deliver the event, securing suitable venues, and then executing it on the day,” Dubois said.
The organisation is also planning to improve Monaco Inspire, which celebrates its third edition in late November. After feedback from previous years, organisers are going to introduce cheaper morning-only tickets to complement their full-day pass, making the event more accessible to those primarily interested in the keynote speakers.
“We want to review the ticket prices to allow us to invite a broader range of people,” Dubois explained. Three keynote speakers will address attendees in the morning, with a new feature allowing participants to book one-to-one sessions with speakers throughout the day. The afternoon retains the pitch contest and adds optional workshops.
Broader strategic shift
These changes reflect JCI Monaco’s repositioning around three core pillars: attractiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation. Meanwhile, the organisation has dropped its previous focus on personal development in order to promote innovation as “the voice of 18 to 40-year-olds” in Monaco’s business community.
In addition, training programmes are expanding beyond entrepreneurs to include corporate employees. “Until now, we had many training sessions for entrepreneurs, but Luxmaan wanted to promote this aspect and offer more training in the corporate world, with soft skills dedicated to employees,” Dubois said.
The attractiveness pillar will deliver around 15 public events this year, including four breakfast conferences with guest speakers. Vivarelli stressed that despite the organisation’s 18-40 age limit for membership, all events remain open to the public. “There’s no age requirement for attending events,” he said.
Three Pitch Night sessions will also run throughout the year, with the first on March 18th dedicated to IUM students. The free evening events at JCI Monaco headquarters give participants a platform to present their projects to mentors and audiences.
The organisation also maintains its core initiatives, including the Business Creation Competition in its 31st year and the Startup Meeting series.
