Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

The Oceanographic Museum (French: Musée océanographique), is a museum of marine sciences in Monaco City, Monaco. This building is part of the Institut océanographique, which is committed to sharing its knowledge of the oceans.^[1]

Oceanographic Museum of Monaco

Musée océanographique de Monaco
Exterior of the Museum
Established	1910
Location	Le Rocher, Monaco
Type	Oceanographic museum, Historic site
Website	www.oceano.mc

The building rises from the cliffside rock.

A view of the interior of the museum

Aerial view of the Rock with the museum

History

The Oceanographic Museum was inaugurated in 1910 by Monaco's modernist reformer Prince Albert I,^[2] who invited to the celebrations not just high officials and celebrities but also the world-leading oceanographers of the day to develop the concept of a future Mediterranean Commission dedicated to oceanography, now called Mediterranean Science Commission. Jacques-Yves Cousteau was director from 1957 to 1988. The Museum celebrated its centenary in March 2010, after extensive renovations.

Overview

The museum is home to exhibitions and collections of various species of sea fauna (starfish, seahorses, turtles, jellyfish, crabs, lobsters, rays, sharks, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, eels, cuttlefish etc.). The museum's holdings also include a great variety of sea related objects, including model ships, sea animal skeletons, tools, weapons etc., as well as a collection of material culture and ritual objects made from, or integrating materials such as pearls, molluscs and nacre.^[3][4]

At the first floor, A Sailor’s Career showcases the work of Prince Albert I. It includes the laboratory from L’Hirondelle, the first of Prince Albert's research yachts. Observations made there led to an understanding of the phenomenon of anaphylaxis, for which Dr Charles Richet received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1913.^[3]

An aquarium in the basement of the museum presents a wide array of flora and fauna. Four thousand species of fish and over 200 families of invertebrates can be seen. The aquarium also features a presentation of Mediterranean and tropical marine ecosystems.^[3]

Numerous artists display their artworks in the museum, such as Damien Hirst and Philippe Pasqua.^[5]

Architecture

This monumental example of highly charged Baroque Revival architecture has an impressive façade above the sea, towering over the sheer cliff face to a height of 279 feet (85.04 m). It took eleven years to build, using 100,000 tons of stone from La Turbie.^[3] During construction, the names of twenty well-known oceanographic research vessels personally selected by Prince Albert I were inscribed into the frieze of the museum's façade.^[6]

Oceanographic research vessels inscribed on façade

Country	Vessel	Image	Year Launched	Expedition	Inscription[7][6]
German Empire	SMS Gazelle[6]		1859	1874–76[8]	GAZELLE
United Kingdom	HMS Investigator[6]		1801	1801–03[6]	INVESTIGATOR
Austrian Empire	SMS Novara[6]		1850	Novara Expedition (1857–59)[6]	NOVARA
Russian Empire	Vitiaz[6]		1862	1870–74 1883–85[6]	VITIAZ
Belgium	RV Belgica[6]		1884	Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897–99)[6]	BELGICA
France	Talisman[6]			1883[9]	TALISMAN
German Empire	SS Valdivia[6]		1886	Valdivia Expedition (1898–99)[8]	VALDIVIA
Kingdom of Italy	Washington[6]			1881[10]	WASHINGTON
Sweden( United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway)	SS Vega[6]		1872	1878–79[6]	VEGA
Norway( United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway)	Fram[6]		1892	Nansen's Fram expedition (1893–96) Sverdrup's Canadian Arctic islands expedition (1898–1902) Amundsen's South Pole expedition (1910–12)[6]	FRAM
Monaco	Princess Alice[11][6]				PRINCESS ALICE
Monaco	Hirondelle[11][6]				HIRONDELLE
Austria-Hungary	SMS Pola[6]			Austro-Hungarian Deep Sea Expeditions [de] (1890–93)[6]	POLA
United States	USC&GS George S. Blake[6]		1874	1874–1904[6]	BLAKE
United Kingdom	HMS Challenger[6]		1858	Challenger expedition (1872–76)[6]	CHALLENGER
Netherlands	HNLMS Siboga[6]			Siboga expedition (1899–1900)[6]	SIBOGA
United Kingdom	Buccaneer[12][6]				BUCCANEER
Kingdom of Portugal	SS Amélia I [pt], II [pt], III, IV[6]			1896, 1897, 1899, 1901–1910[6]	AMELIA
Denmark	Ingolf[6]			1895–96[6]	INGOLF
United States	USS Albatross[6]		1882	1883–97, 1899–1916, 1919–21[6]	ALBATROSS

Caulerpa taxifolia

In 1989, a French marine biologist discovered a patch of a giant, tropical seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia directly under the walls of the museum. The actual source and extent of this exotic introduction remain a matter of controversy.^[13]

Gallery

• 
  Aquarium with Piranhas
• 
  Sea turtle
• 
  Nautilus
• 
  Central room of the top floor

See also

• Oceans portal

• List of museums in Monaco

References

1. "The Oceanographic Institute, Foundation Albert I, Prince of Monaco". Monaco Blue Initiative. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
2. Waldman, Carl; Mason, Catherine (2006). Encyclopedia of European Peoples. Infobase Publishing. p. 529. ISBN 978-1-4381-2918-1.
3. "The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco". Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
4. Mourad, Bariaa; P.-Fromm, Gérald A.; Carpine, Christian, eds. (1992). "Art de la nacre, coquillages sacrés". Rapport de recherche sur la provenance et l'authenticité d'une collection du Musée Océanographique. Monaco: Musée Océanographique.
5. De Santis, Sophie (15 May 2017). "Philippe Pasqua, "Borderline"". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 2017-05-25.
6. Cotter, Charles H.; Dean, J. R. (December 1966). "Down to the Sea: A Century of Oceanography". The Geographical Journal. 132 (4): 560. doi:10.2307/1792593. ISSN 0016-7398. JSTOR 1792593.
7. Kofoid, Charles A. (1910). The biological stations of Europe. G.P.O. OCLC 7310523.
8. "Some Early German Contributions to Oceanography". hydro-international.com. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
9. "The "Talisman" Expedition". Nature. 29 (739): 197–198. December 1883. Bibcode:1883Natur..29..197.. doi:10.1038/029197a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
10. Moraitou-Apostolopoulou, Maria (2013). Mediterranean Marine Ecosystems. Springer. ISBN 9781489922489. OCLC 1076260370.
11. "The Career of a Navigator". www.oceano.mc. Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
12. Carpine-Lancre, Jacqueline; McConnell, Anita (January 2011). "Prince Albert and J. Y. Buchanan: Mediterranean investigations". History of Oceanography. 22. International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science: 29.
13. Davidson, Nick (2003-04-01). "Transcript of "Deep Sea Invasion"". PBS and BBC. Retrieved 2010-05-10.

External links

• Official website (in French) (in English)
• Guide to visiting the Museum

43°43′51″N 7°25′31″E