Prince Albert II follows in his ancestors’ footsteps at the Balzi Rossi Prehistoric Museum

By visiting this important European prehistoric site in Ventimiglia, the Sovereign renewed a scientific tradition that has been in his family for almost two centuries.

Welcomed by the Mayor of Ventimiglia, Flavio Di Muro, and the museum’s director, Antonella Traverso, Prince Albert II visited the two areas of the Balzi Rossi museum, nestled by the sea a few steps from the French border, at the end of the day on Monday 2 March. The Sovereign toured the rooms dedicated to Upper Palaeolithic burials, the history of major excavation campaigns and the remains from the Prince’s Cave, the largest in the complex, which remains the property of the Grimaldi family.

This site, also known as the ‘Grimaldi Caves’, has had close ties with the Principality since the mid-19th century. It was Prince Florestan I who financed the first excavations in these cavities carved into the red limestone cliff in 1846. His great-grandson, Albert I, continued this work from 1883 onwards with unprecedented scientific ambition: between 1895 and 1901, he organised methodical campaigns that uncovered exceptional burials, including that of the Grimaldi Man, dated to around 25,000 years ago.

A scientific legacy that lives on

Passionate about palaeontology, Albert I founded the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology in Monaco and the Institute of Human Palaeontology in Paris to preserve and study these discoveries. The caves, which contain traces of human occupation dating back 200,000 years, remain an active international research site today.

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Prehistory enthusiasts can extend this journey through time by visiting the exhibition ‘From Toumaï to Sapiens’, on display until 16 October 2026 at the Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology in Monaco. This interactive and educational exhibition traces the evolution of the human lineage, from the first hominins to Homo sapiens.