The Museum of Old Monaco, the Rock's memory kept by its own families

Almost everything you see on the Rock is explained by the Palace, which is to say by the Grimaldis. This museum tells the other half, the story of the people who lived in those lanes and spoke a language that very nearly disappeared. It’s free, takes half an hour and, to my mind, is the best way to begin a visit to the old town. Here’s what’s inside, when it opens and why I’d put it first.

A museum made by the old families

Behind it stands the Comité National des Traditions Monégasques, set up in 1924 by representatives of the country’s long-established families to protect what they call their national identity. A century on, it still does the same job. It keeps civil and religious festivals going, teaches and promotes Monegasque, looks after objects and documents and keeps an eye on historic sites. The museum, the Müseu d’u Veyu Mùnegu in its own language, is in the Comité’s headquarters at 2 Rue Emile de Loth, near the Palace and the cathedral.

I’m even fond of its emblem. It shows the Porte Major, the gateway completed on 10 January 1533 under Honoré I, which for a long time was the only way onto the Rock from La Condamine.

What is there to see at the Museum of Old Monaco?

There are two displays. The main one, I Carrugi d’a Roca, the streets of the Rock, runs from oldest to newest. It starts with the fortified village the town grew from, moves on to the presence of the Monegasque language in those lanes and ends with the characters who lived there. Upstairs it continues with religious and popular traditions (the living calendar is in Monaco’s traditions and festivals), and there’s a screening room. If that part grabs you, the Chapel of Mercy, a few streets away, is home to the Rock’s brotherhoods and processions.

The second is devoted to Monaco ceramics, the principality’s craft heritage. I can’t claim it’s a spectacular collection, because I have nothing to base that on. What I will say is that afterwards the lanes around Monaco Cathedral stop feeling like a stage set and start having names and trades.

When it opens, with a warning about the season

It opens every day except Monday, 10:30 to 17:00, and it’s free. On that much the government’s culture.mc listing and the Comité’s website agree. Where they differ is the season. The Comité says the museum opens from May to the end of September, and on another page that it opens daily in summer. Culture.mc mentions no season at all.

My reading is that it’s a summer museum. If you’re visiting between October and April, I’d phone +377 93 50 57 28 before making the trip. Groups can arrange a visit by emailing [email protected]. One minor point, too, since some of the Comité’s pages give the address as Place des Carmes. I go with the government’s, Rue Emile de Loth.

The Monegasque language, the part that interests me most

If I had to pick one reason to go in, it would be Monegasque. French is the official language (I unpack what language is spoken in Monaco separately), but Monegasque grew out of Genoese, and until the Comité began writing it down in 1924 it was largely spoken rather than written. Rainier III made it a compulsory subject in state primary schools in 1976 and in public schools in 1988, and today pupils study it until the end of lower secondary.

The Comité still runs adult classes and has released Munegascu, the first typeface designed for writing the language, free to download. It strikes me as a good example of how a very small country takes seriously the few things that are entirely its own. For the wider backdrop, see the history of Monaco.

Fitting it into a morning on the Rock

This is how I’d run the morning. The museum at 10:30, when it opens, the cathedral next, the 11:55 guard change outside the Palace and the State Apartments in the afternoon, while they’re open for the season. Everything is a few minutes apart on foot, and the museum is the one piece that needs neither a booking nor a ticket. The full route, with the Saint-Martin Gardens and the aquarium, is in Monaco-Ville, the Rock.

Set against the country’s other museums, this is the most modest and the only one that’s always free. I compare them all, with prices and hours, in the Monaco museums guide.