Created by Sovereign Order of Prince Rainier III, in December 1995, the Museum of Stamps and Coins, located in Fontvieille next to the Espace Léo Ferré, was opened to the public in January 1996 and celebrated its twenty years of existence in 2016.
Of modern design, this Museum exhibits the philatelic and numismatic collections of Prince Rainier III of Monaco who defined the stamp "as the first ambassador of a country". The Collections are among the most beautiful and renowned in the world, the Numismatic Collection being centered on the coins of the Sovereign Princes of Monaco and the monetary finds made on the territory of the Principality in the 19th century.
The exhibitions...
Every two years, the Museum hosts the world event "Monacophil" which brings together the most prestigious philatelists from all over the world.
Since 2008, every 3 or 4 years, it hosts a prestigious international numismatic exhibition in which the National Library of France (Paris), the Museum of Art and History of Vienna, the Paris Mint, the Museums of Marseille and Lyon, the Archives of the Princely Palace, etc. participate.
Every year, the Museum organizes temporary philatelic exhibitions, which will soon be complemented by numismatic exhibitions.
The Museum in two halls
A special room, known as the Rare Stamps Room, houses pre-philatelic documents, the Sardinian and French stamps used in the Principality known as "precursors" and the first Monegasque stamps from the reigns of Charles III and Louis II known as "Classics". It is here that the ten exhibitions of "100 of the rarest stamps and philatelic documents in the world" were presented to the public in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015.
The Museum also exhibits machines and tools. A large stamp printing press and a large monetary pendulum, which was used in 1837-1838 in Monaco in the monetary workshop then installed in the Prince's Palace, as well as monetary corners and small tools, allow visitors to the Museum to understand how stamps and coins were made in the 19th century.
A second room presents the complete chronology of coins, since 1641, and Monegasque stamps, since 1885, as well as temporary thematic exhibitions. The public can thus discover the plaster casts used in the minting process, the punches and all the documents involved in the issue of a stamp, and admire an intaglio machine that printed the stamps of Monaco for more than 60 years,
Let us recall that the first Monegasque stamps were created in 1885 by Prince Charles III and the first Monegasque coins in January 1640 by Prince Honoré II.
Museum of Stamps and Coins of Monaco
11, terraces of Fontvieille
MC 98000 Monaco
Tel: (+377) 98 98 41 50
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