Classroom lesson · Cathedral of Monaco · 🇲🇨 Monaco

Cathedral of Monaco

A beautiful historic building at the heart of the old town

Photo · Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

The Cathedral of Monaco — officially called the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception — is a beautiful old church built from white stone on the hill of Le Rocher. It was finished in 1903, though a church had stood on that same spot for hundreds of years before. Inside, its walls are decorated with stunning mosaics and paintings.

Tell me more

The cathedral is built in a style called Romanesque Revival, which means it was designed to look like the ancient stone churches of medieval Europe, with round arches, thick walls and tall bell towers. The builders used a pale stone called 'La Turbie stone', which gives the building its bright, creamy white colour that glows in the Mediterranean sunshine.

Inside the cathedral is a remarkable altarpiece — a large painted panel — made in the 1500s by a Niçois artist called Louis Brea. It shows many figures in bright colours and is considered one of the finest examples of this kind of painting in the whole region. The building also has beautiful stained-glass windows that fill the interior with coloured light on sunny days.

The cathedral choir has a long musical tradition. The Choir of Monaco has been singing in this building for over 500 years, and boys and girls from the area still train there today to become accomplished singers. On special occasions, the choir fills the stone vaulted space with music that echoes beautifully off the ancient walls.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01The choir has been singing in this building for over 500 years. What is something in your town or city that has been there for a very long time?
  2. 02The building was designed to look like medieval churches from hundreds of years earlier. Why might architects want to copy old styles?
  3. 03Stained-glass windows use coloured glass to make patterns of light. What colours do you think would look most beautiful coming through glass?
Try this

Classroom activity

Design your own stained-glass window on paper using pencils or felt-tip pens. Think about: what shape will the window be? What pattern or picture will go inside it? What colours will you use and why? Share your designs and see what different choices your class made.