Monaco’s rope access technicians: aerial protection for the Prince’s Palace
The rope access technicians work several dozen metres off the ground © Prince’s Palace
A team of only three tends the walls without using any chemicals, for health and environmental reasons.
Twice a year, a special ballet is performed in Monaco, not on the stage of the Monte-Carlo Opera House but in the air, on the walls of the Prince’s Palace. On 3 November, Paris Match took a look at the rope access technicans who weed the walls of the Prince’s Palace.
Advertising
Journalist Pierrick Geais reports on the ‘dizzying work’ carried out by José, Romain and Sidali ‘several dozen metres above the Mediterranean.’ The trio works for the Entreprise Monégasque de Travaux Acrobatiques (EMTA – Monaco Acrobatic Work Company), doing their utmost to ‘protect precious heritage’.
Pampering the Prince’s residence, naturally
Helmeted and harnessed on high, they take off any weeds, moss or ivy that is growing on the walls, by hand. No chemicals are used on the protective walls that surround the Prince’s Palace, home to Prince Albert II, Princess Charlene and their children, Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella.
High above the Mediterranean, the rope access technicians certainly have a fine view. Below them, the city of Monaco and the blue sea of the Côte d’Azur, above them the Principality’s oldest neighbourhood and the Prince’s Palace, maintained by over 130 employees throughout the year. Whether they are locksmiths, silversmiths, plumbers or linen maids, they are all ‘committed to showcasing this exceptional place’.