Cathedral of St. Nicholas-Monte Carlo

Cathedral of St. Nicholas
Monte Carlo, Monaco

4, rue Colonel Bellando de CastroMC 98000, Monaco
Tel.: (+377) 93 30 87 70
Web site: http://www.cathedrale.mc/

This church is fairly small by European cathedral standards and did not have a ton of mosaics. The small, modern looking one is near the entrance.

As in many churches in Europe, one is restricted to taking photos either without a flash, or having to be really sneaky to take many photos at all. Even in the same city, some churches don't care what you do in the way of photos and some maintain a strict NO Photos policy--I notice that more where the church has a sizable collection of postcards, booklets, etc...they hope to sell you. Anyway, these photos are not the best, as I took them in very low light. Becuase I was on a tight multi-city trip, with limited baggage space, I used a small 3X camera rather than my larger 10X zoom camera that I tend to use at home for photos of mosaics in churches. For it's size, the HPR707 digital camera did a fantastic job and never let me down. In July, there was a continuous stream of people circling around the back of the altar area of the Cathedral to view the grave of Princess Grace which always has fresh flowers on it.

The mosaics in the dome in the Cathedral of St. Nicholas have a great deal of gold in them, so it is a rich effect in the low light of the interior.

The Cathedral of St. Nicholas was built in 1875 using white stone from La Turbie. The present-day Cathedral stands on the site of a 13th century church dedicated to Saint Nicolas and houses the tombs of the former Princes of Monaco. It is also the final resting place Princess Grace.
Pontifical services take place on the major religious festivals such as the Feast of Sainte Dévote (27th January) and the National holiday (19th November).
On feast days and during religious music concerts, you can hear the magnificent four-keyboard organ, which was inaugurated in 1976.
From September through June, “Les Petits Chanteurs de Monaco” and the singers of the Cathedral Choir School sing during the mass every Sunday at 10:00AM.