Monaco National Day: six Grimaldi castles beyond the Rock, from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marchais

Dynastic portrait of the Grimaldis through six French castles, from the Côte d’Azur to the Aisne, ahead of Monaco’s National Day (19 November)

Monaco National Day: six Grimaldi castles beyond the Rock, from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marchais

Before 19 November, Monaco’s national day, six castles recount the Grimaldis’ legacy beyond the Rock: Cagnes, Roquebrune, Antibes, Cannes’ Le Suquet, Menton’s Bastion and Marchais in the Aisne.

Editorial journal · Carte des Châteaux ·

Les Grimaldi, 1309-1889

On 19 November, Monaco decks itself in red and white for its National Day. Yet the story of the family that has ruled the Rock since the late 13th century extends far beyond the principality’s two square kilometres. For over five centuries, Grimaldis held fortresses along the coast from Cagnes to Roquebrune, governed Antibes, directed the abbey of Lérins and its towers in Cannes, then purchased a Renaissance estate deep in Picardy. Six castles in France today trace this dynasty beyond its current borders, from the family’s first admiral to the 19th-century princes.

Château Grimaldi

ALPES-MARITIMES · Cagnes-sur-Mer

Château Grimaldi

The Château Grimaldi in Cagnes-sur-Mer was built in 1309 by Rainier Grimaldi, lord of Cagnes and admiral of France, on a site previously occupied by the Greeks and then the Romans. Laid out around a triangular courtyard, it retains medieval defensive features (machicolations and crenellations on the towers and the keep). During the reign of Louis XIII the apartments were redecorated, notably the great hall, whose painted ceiling depicting the Fall of Phaethon was executed in the 1620s by the Genoese painter Giulio Benso. Having become the residence of the provincial governors, then a barracks and a hospital after the Revolution, the château now belongs to the commune of Cagnes-sur-Mer, which has set up a municipal museum there. The building was listed as a historic monument (classé) by order of 15 April 1948, with the exception of two plots listed by decree of 5 May 1948.

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Château Grimaldi

ALPES-MARITIMES · Antibes

Château Grimaldi

The Château Grimaldi in Antibes, originally built at the end of the 14th century as the residence of the town's feudal lords, Marc and Luc Grimaldi, stands on the foundations of the ancient Greek city of Antipolis. The present building dates mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries. After the Grimaldis left for Monaco at the beginning of the 17th century, the château became the residence of the royal governors of Antibes until the French Revolution, then the town hall, before serving as a military barracks. Acquired by the town of Antibes in 1925, it was listed as a historic monument (classé) by decree of 29 April 1928. Pablo Picasso set up his studio there from September to November 1946; since December 1966 the building has housed the Picasso Museum, rich in works donated by the artist.

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General view of the Grimaldi château overlooking the hilltop village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
The Château des Grimaldis in Roquebrune: the fortress remained in the hands of the lords and then the princes of Monaco from 1355 until the mid-19th century. — Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Three princes to know

Rainier Ier Grimaldi

vers 1267 - 1314

Lord of Cagnes and Admiral of France under Philip the Fair, he commanded in 1304 the Franco-Genoese fleet that defeated the Flemings at Zierikzee in Zeeland. Monégasque genealogies count him as the first Rainier, the name that leads down to Rainier III.

Charles III

1818 - 1889

Prince from 1856 until his death, he saw his territory reduced to the Rock and its surroundings. He then bet on tourism: around the casino, the plateau of the Spélugues was rechristened Monte Carlo in 1866 in his honour, and the arrival of the railway transformed the principality.

Albert Ier

1848 - 1922

Son of Charles III and Antoinette de Mérode, he became prince in 1889 and devoted his life to the sea. A navigator and oceanographer, he led numerous scientific expeditions aboard his yachts and founded the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, inaugurated in 1910.

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Sources

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National Day — Princely Government of Monaco ↗Charles I: the constitution of the territory — Princely Government of Monaco ↗Secession of Menton and Roquebrune — Princely Government of Monaco ↗Augustin Grimaldi — Princely Government of Monaco ↗Honoré II — Princely Government of Monaco ↗The Grimaldi sites: in Antibes, the ancestors of the Prince sat for more than 200 years — Monaco Tribune ↗The château — Roquebrune-Cap-Martin ↗Picasso Museum, Antibes — Côte d’Azur France ↗Museum of World Explorations, Cannes — Côte d’Azur France ↗Le Bastion Jean Cocteau Museum, Menton — Côte d’Azur France ↗Grimaldi Château-Museum — Cagnes-sur-Mer Museums ↗A dynasty with a turbulent history — Herodote.net ↗