The Naval Museum of Monaco was born from the passion of one man, Professor Claude Pallanca, who from a very young age dreamed of sailing and was always making made model ships.
During his military service, he was posted aboard the “Joan of Arc” as a dental surgeon and befriended many sailors and naval officers. From there, a passion for the sea and boats was born. Thus, over the years, he gathered and built up an outstanding collection. Thanks to the help of Prince Rainier III of Monaco, the Monégasque Administration, Bernard Fautrier and Mr Charles Ballerio, the latter led to the creation of the Naval Museum, a real maritime encyclopaedia.
Founded in 1993, the museum houses an exceptional collection of more than 250 model ships, paintings and marine objects from ancient times to the present day. In addition, it has been enriched by the loan of numerous antique models from the personal collection of Prince Rainier III of Monaco. The collection, as a whole, includes more than 1200 scale models to which hundreds of marine objects have been added. In recent years, Professor Pallanca has enriched it with paintings illustrating his ships and planes from the Second World War. He currently owns 550 of them.
The main characteristic of the Museum is that it is international. Among the most remarkable pieces you can see: a funerary boat found in an Egyptian tomb, ancient Greek and Roman ships, liners such as the “Titanic” and the “France”. There are also models of training ships such as the “Amerigo Vespucci” and the “Belem”, not forgetting many buildings, including the “Joan of Arc” and the “Missouri”.
