The Smallest Kingdom in the World

Monaco is the smallest kingdom in the world. It is only fifty-three and a quarter miles in circuit, including Monte Carlo. The capital, Monaco, containing 2000 inhabitants, is perched upon a rocky promontory rising perpendicularly about 200 feet above the sea-level. The only land approach is by a steep winding road, well fortified. The castle, built in 1542, which crowns the center of the rock, upon the site of a much more ancient fortress, is a remarkable specimen of the military architecture of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; its towers, portcullises, drawbridges, etc., are all intact. The interior of the castle is remarkably rich. One long gallery is said to have been painted by Michael Angelo. Another is covered with fine paintings by Genoese artists. There is a magnificent marble staircase, and fine apartments, each with a history attached. In one the Duke of York, brother of George IV. of England, died; another is the room in which Lucian Grimaldi was murdered, and which was immediately walled up and not reopened until 1869, after a lapse of 300 years. Another is the famous Grimaldi Hall, with its celebrated chimney-piece, one of the finest specimens of domestic Renaissance architecture in existence. It is lofty and deep, of pure white marble, covered with exquisite bas-reliefs. Under Napoleon I. it was taken down and removed to Paris, but was restored in 1815. The streets of Monaco are narrow and clean; there are but few handsome houses, but a grand boulevard extends around the promontory, commanding fine views of coast and sea. Strange to say, gambling is prohibited by law, and yet within twenty minutes' walk is Monte Carlo, famous for its magnificent Casino, the most gorgeous gambling establishment in the world. The town of Monte Carlo is a health resort in winter and a resort for sea-bathing in summer.

In 500 B. C., Hecate of Miletus wrote an account of the city now called Monaco, and declared it to be then so old a town that the people had lost all tradition of its origin. In the days of Charlemagne (742-814) the Moors gained possession of Monaco, and remained there until 968. Then a Genoese captain, named Grimaldi, volunteered to help the Christians drive these infidels from the shore of France. He was victorious, and in reward for bravery and skill he was proclaimed "Prince of Monaco," and his descendants still rule the small territory awarded their ancestor. Monaco has undergone fifty-eight sieges, but has never lost her independence except for a few years at a time. In 1792 the French Republic destroyed the Principality of Monaco, but upon the overthrow of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815 it was restored. It was not until 1863 that the late Prince Florestan II. of Monaco met M. Blanc, the famous gambling-saloon organizer. The consideration of 12,000,000 francs ($2,400,000) and an annual rent of 150,000 francs ($30,000) was not to be withstood by a prince of so small a territory and income. The bargain was sealed, and the world-famous Casino at Monte Carlo was established. No one under twenty-one years of age was to be admitted, and no resident of Monte Carlo or Monaco; only the "stranger and sojourner" was to have access to the Casino. It is open the entire year, and, apart from the games, is a palace in size and splendor.

The building is of white marble, the exterior in the style of the Italian Renaissance. It contains, besides its two large gambling-saloons, a reading-room, a concert-hall, and three reception-or ball-rooms. The internal decorations are Arabian in style, gorgeous in coloring and elaborate in gilding, yet blended so skillfully as to be pleasing without dazzling.