Portal:Monaco
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Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a semi-enclave bordered by France to the north, east and west. The principality is home to 38,682 residents, of whom 9,486 are Monégasque nationals; it is recognised as one of the wealthiest and most expensive places in the world. The official language is French; Monégasque, English and Italian are spoken and understood by many residents.
With an area of 2.08 km2 (0.80 sq mi), Monaco is the second-smallest sovereign state in the world, after Vatican City. Its population of 38,367 in 2023 makes it the most densely populated sovereign state. Monaco has the world's shortest coastline: 3.83 km (2.38 mi). The principality is about 15 km (9.3 mi) from the border with Italy and consists of nine administrative wards, the largest of which is Monte Carlo.
The principality is governed under a form of constitutional monarchy, with Prince Albert II as head of state, who wields political power despite his constitutional status. The prime minister, who is the head of government, can be either a Monégasque or French citizen; the monarch consults with the Government of France before an appointment. Key members of the judiciary are detached French magistrates. The House of Grimaldi has ruled Monaco, with brief interruptions, since 1297. The state's sovereignty was officially recognised by the Franco-Monégasque Treaty of 1861, with Monaco becoming a full United Nations voting member in 1993. Despite Monaco's independence and separate foreign policy, its defence is the responsibility of France, besides maintenance of two small military units. (Full article...)
Selected location article
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The Fort Antoine Theatre is a small amphitheatre on the Avenue de la Quarantaine in the Monaco-Ville ward of Monaco. The fort hosts open air plays in the summer months.
The theatre was originally constructed as a fortress in the early 18th-century before its destruction in 1944. Prince Rainier III had the fortress rebuilt as a theatre in 1953. The parapet of the fort is provided by pittosporum hedges. The militaristic nature of its architecture has been retained with a bartizan and a pyramid of cannonballs at the centre of the theatre. (Full article...)
Selected pictures
Selected ward
La Rousse (French pronunciation: [la ʁus]; Monégasque: A Russa), also formerly known as La Rousse-Saint Roman (until 2013), is the northernmost ward in the Principality of Monaco. La Rousse is incorporated in the traditional quarter of Monte Carlo. Since 2018, it is home to a police station near the border with France. (Full article...)
Selected environment article
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The Tête de Chien (Monégasque: Testa de Can; "Dog's Head") is a 550 m (1,804 ft) high rock promontory near the village of La Turbie in the Alpes-Maritimes department of France. It overlooks the Principality of Monaco, and is the highest point on the Grande Corniche road.
The American diplomat Samuel S. Cox, in his 1870 travel book Search for Winter Sunbeams in the Riviera, Corsica, Algiers and Spain wrote that the Tête de Chien more resembled a tortoise than a dog's head, and believed that Tête de Chien, or rather Testa de Can, was a corruption of Testa de Camp ("Field Head"), as it was where Caesar stationed his troops after the conquest of Gaul. Vere Herbert, the heroine of Ouida's 1880 novel Moths is described as living under the Tête de Chien, "...within a few miles of the brilliant Hell [Monaco]." (Full article...)
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Selected arts article
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 22 March 1975 in the Sankt Eriks-Mässan in Stockholm, Sweden. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR), and presented by Karin Falck, the contest was held in Sweden following the country's victory at the 1974 contest with the song "Waterloo" by ABBA.
Nineteen countries were represented at the contest – a new record number of participants. Turkey made its first entry, and France and Malta returned after a one- and two-year absence, respectively. Greece, after participating for the first time in the previous year's event, opted not to participate in 1975. (Full article...)
Selected religion article
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The history of the Jews in Monaco goes back at least a century, most notably to the time of the Holocaust. Monaco had a very small Jewish presence before World War II, numbering approximately 300 people. During the war, the principality's government issued false identity papers to its Jewish residents to protect them from Nazi deportation. Prince Louis II refused to dismiss Jewish civil servants and protected Édouard de Rothschild from deportation. However, Monaco's police arrested and turned over 42 Central European Jewish refugees to the Nazis. Sixty Jews were arrested 27–28 August 1942, and ninety in total, according to The Algemeiner.
In 1948, the Association Cultuelle Israelite de Monaco was founded as the official organization of Monaco's Jewish community, and it provides the community with a synagogue, Hebrew school and no kosher food store, but a kosher section in some supermarkets. Today's Jewish community in Monaco consists primarily of retirees from France and the United Kingdom, and there is also a small population of North African and Turkish Jews. More Sephardic Jews came when they were expelled from countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen, and South America/ Spain. To them, Monaco and France were alternatives to Israel. (Full article...)
Selected sports article
Monaco competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. Two competitors, both men, took part in one event in one sport. (Full article...)
Selected education article
The American College of Monaco was a tertiary institution located in Monte Carlo, Monaco, that operated from 1968 until 1970. The college offered a four-year degree program and was reportedly established by the Principality at the request of Princess Grace.
The college held classes in the Hotel Hermitage behind the Hotel de Paris, and the famous Monte Carlo Casino during its first academic year. After that, the school relocated to the Hotel Splendid, on the border of Beausoleil. Prince Rainier III was the Chancellor of the School, and the famous oceanographer, Jacques Yves Cousteau, was a member of its Board of Academic Overseers. (Full article...)
Selected transportation article
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The Principality of Monaco has currently a single railway station, Monaco - Monte Carlo, part of the Marseille–Ventimiglia railway line. The station was originally opened in 1867, but extensively rebuilt in 1999. The length of railway within the Principality is 1.7 km (1.1 mi), giving Monaco the third-smallest railway system in the world. (Full article...)
Selected biography
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Georges Vigarello (born 16 June 1941) is a French historian and sociologist. He is a Research Director at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) of Paris. His main research interests include the sociology of the body, the history of hygiene, representations of the body over the centuries, and the social dimensions of sport. (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that Ron Monaco, described as the "longest of long shots", became a starter in the NFL having been just a backup in college?
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