To celebrate 10 years of historical and cultural discoveries, an international symposium about the secret frescoes of the Prince’s Palace will be held on 19, 20, and 21 March 2026.
“Following ten years of discoveries, research, and restoration, the Prince’s Palace of Monaco has established itself as a major site of European Renaissance heritage. To mark this exceptional scientific, historical, and human endeavour, a multidisciplinary international symposium will be held in Monaco, dedicated to the recently uncovered frescoes,” said the Prince’s Palace in a recent press release.
Beginning as a painting and restoring project, the initiative has transformed into a veritable research laboratory, slowly revealing remarkable collections of late Renaissance frescoes on the Palace walls and ceilings. The works form a monumental allegory of the history of the Grimaldi family, from the 16th century onwards, a history that was “previously largely unknown”.
In 2013, the arrival of the first team tasked with the maintenance and restoration of the frescoes gave no indication of the scale of the discoveries that were to come. Undertaken at the initiative of HSH Prince Albert II, this project is part of an exemplary approach to the “sustainable conservation of heritage, placing the Sovereign in the lineage of his ancestors, great patrons and protectors of the arts, committed to preserving, restoring, and enhancing their Palace”.
Historians and geographers place the origins of the Palace at the end of the 12th century. The siege of 1506-1507, led by the Genoese, marked a decisive turning point in the building’s history. Construction campaigns undertaken by Augustin Grimaldi, and later by Étienne Grimaldi, guardian of Honoré I, profoundly transformed the old medieval fortress. The second quarter of the 16th century saw the emergence of a “true Renaissance palace, whose appearance, patiently rediscovered and restored, is now approaching that of the palace we can see today”.
The restoration of the frescoes in the Prince’s Palace has revealed masterpiece after masterpiece of major importance, both for its artistic quality and iconography.
“The research conducted—involving art historians, restorers, scientists, and heritage specialists—has profoundly renewed our understanding of the site and its role in European political and artistic history,” said the Prince’s Palace.
All of this work will be presented and discussed at the symposium, chaired by Dominique Vingtain, Chief Curator of Heritage and Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Heritage (CICRP), through a rich program of presentations, roundtables, and interdisciplinary discussions, bringing together international researchers and experts. This scientific conference will offer new insights into the frescoes of the Prince’s Palace, their context of creation, their political and symbolic significance, as well as the conservation and restoration methods employed.
