All roads lead to Monte Carlo
Whether on land, sea or in the air, the adventure of the resort is closely linked to that of transport, and has been since the 19th century. Focus for the 2024 Heritage Days on the theme of routes, networks, connections and maritime heritage.
Did you know that a century and a half ago, travellers reached the Casino de Monte-Carlo by steamer from Nice? To immerse yourself in this adventure, you have to go back to 1858. After work began on plans by the Parisian architect Godineau de la Bretonnerie, the first advertisements announced the opening of the Société des Bains de Mer Monaco. In its specifications, the company promised to build roads in the Principality and to provide urban transport within the Principality and from neighbouring towns. Thanks to an omnibus running from Nice to Monaco every morning, travellers were invited to experience the Salons du Casino with its concert, ballroom, conversation, reading and games rooms.
A Franco-Monegasque treaty soon provided for the construction of a railway line to Monaco, linked to the French network, but it was not until 10 years later that the first passenger train stopped at Monaco station north of La Condamine! To turn the resort into an international holiday destination, the authorities decided to mobilise steamboats, Le Charles III and La Palmaria, which would bring about advances in mechanical engineering. The construction of the railway was a great human epic, and men and women from all over France came to contribute to this great opening onto the future. A technical challenge, and so it was that on 19 October 1868, the first locomotive arrived in Monaco in the morning with its passenger carriages from Nice.
For everyone involved, it was a victory, and the train, with its three fare classes, allowed a great many passengers to enjoy the experience. To ensure that visitors, businessmen and gamblers could disembark as close as possible to the Spélugues district, at the top of which is the Casino de Monte-Carlo, François Blanc also managed to get the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Paris - Lyon - Méditerranée to build a second station below. Ingenious hydraulic lifts took passengers directly to the terraces of the Casino de Monte-Carlo. The group then got into the rhythm of the arrivals and departures of the train, which waited for the players to leave in the evening at the foot of Monaco's temple of games. The district saw a major boom during the Belle Epoque.
Helicopters and airships in the sky
If today H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco sometimes travels in a horse-drawn carriage with the Princely Family for official ceremonies, it is in memory of the time when horse-drawn carriages made it possible to travel from Monaco town to Larvotto. A leisure destination, a land of entertainment prized by the aristocracy and upper middle classes, Monte-Carlo comes alive with the world's finest sporting competitions. Boosted by excellence and performance, the Principality saw an influx of aviation pioneers and anything that could fly in the air.
It was here that French engineer Maurice Stanislas Léger - Prince Albert I's technical adviser - designed a prototype helicopter, which he first tested in a building at Monaco's Oceanographic Museum. In 1905 and again in 1907, it made several take-offs.
Soon in the sky, the aeronaut Jacques Faure also took to the skies in his spherical balloon in an attempt to reach Corsica, while Henri Rougier, an accomplished sportsman, made the first flight over the Mediterranean in his biplane following a contract signed with the Société des Bains de Mer. He even crossed a mountain for the first time, the Tête de Chien overlooking Monaco. An exciting success story.
Motorboats and the birth of the Grand Prix
The adventure of transport is also driving the roads, and the Principality is way ahead of the game! In 1902, it hosted the first tarring tests, thanks to a formula developed by Dr Ernest Gulgielminetti. By reusing the residual tarmac from the Monaco Gas Works, he managed to tarmac 40 metres of the road serving the company; an event that led to the early creation of the Grand Prix by the Automobile Club de Monaco! For the record, this Monegasque institution was originally called Sport Vélocipédique de la Principauté (SVP). Founded in 1890 around two calf-powered wheels, it was renamed Sport Automobile et Vélocipédique Monégasque (SAVM) in 1907, and from then on included cars powered by internal combustion engines.
The 1st Monaco Automobile Rally was thus born in 1911, with Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Vienna and Geneva as starting towns. The event was won by the same Henri Rougier, with an average speed of 13.8 km/h aboard his Turcat-Mery 25HP. At the time, the city was paved with cobblestones and the tramway tracks ran from La Condamine to the Casino de Monte-Carlo. Facing out to sea, the Monegasque bay sees an influx of passengers and the regattas form ballets on its waters.
Monaco was the holiday destination of a cosmopolitan elite, enthusiasts of horseless carriages, who came to the seaside resort to take part in elegance competitions that reflected the progress of industry. In addition to hydro-aeroplane meetings and the first air rally, designed as an echo of the car, the country became the venue for motorboat races from 1904 to 1923. It was against this backdrop that in 1929, with the support of René Léon, director of the Société des Bains de Mer, the Automobile Club de Monaco inaugurated the thrilling circuit of the 1st Monaco Grand Prix, the first annual city Grand Prix in the world.
All roads lead to Monte Carlo
With the advent of the car, town planner Eugène Baudoin suggested burying the railway line in the 1940s. It is said that it was the consultation with the modernist architect Le Corbusier that finally convinced Prince Rainier III to carry out this work, which was to be one of the major projects of his reign from 1958 onwards. The old open-air route was replaced by an underground network running from Monte Carlo station to the French border at Roquebrune.
Almost 100 years after the inauguration of the train in the Principality, these new facilities were unveiled in 1964, and the Sovereign left it to his son, the future Prince Albert II, to cut the ribbon. The days of open-air railways have come to an end, paving the way for vast coastal developments in the Portier and Larvotto districts. For Prince Rainier III's 50th birthday in 1999, Monte-Carlo station, a veritable glass cathedral next to Sainte-Dévote church, was inaugurated, making it Monaco's only station. An exciting history of transport, which has given the resort all its dynamism.