2023 marks an important year of celebrations in the Principality, including Monaco’s admission to the United Nations 30 years ago.
On 28 May 1993, the Monegasque flag was hoisted for the first time at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, when the Principality of Monaco became the international organization’s 183rd member state.
The application was led by Prince Rainier III, who stated: “Today will remain an important date in the already long history of our country, for it is the certainty of its future.”
On 27 September 1993, speaking for the very first time, Hereditary Prince Albert gave a speech on behalf of the Principality of Monaco before member states and organizations at the 48th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Appointed Head of the Monegasque Delegation by his father, Prince Albert has taken part regularly in these international meetings for the last 30 years.
The 30th anniversary is part of commemorations for the centenary of the birth of Prince Rainier III. A special concert by the Orchestra of the Palace Guards was organised and guests were able also to view an emblematic photo exhibition on the ties forged between Monaco and the United Nations over the last 30 years.
And - Jean Cocteau was sixty years old the first time he entered the Santo Sospir villa in 1950. The poet, cartoonist, novelist and playwright became a prolific director well known to the general public. On the set of the film Les Enfants Terribles, Cocteau met the young Francine Weisweiller, who invited him to take a break at her villa in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, a few hundred yards from Villefranche-sur-Mer, where he had lived for a long time in his youth. Cocteau fell in love with Santo Sospir and spent 12 years there, meeting Matisse and Picasso and producing countless work of art.
In 2018, photographer Mauro Restiffe (born in Brazil in1970) was also invited to stay at Santo Sospir, preserved intact since Cocteau’s departure and soon to be fully restored. Restiffe produced a series of photos inspired by his exploration of architecture, memory and intimacy. Created using only analog techniques, Restiffe’s prints reveal traces of a ghostly presence, a favourite theme of the poet, who passed away in 1963.
The series Santo Sospir explores the poetic universe of Cocteau through the camera lens. The exhibition proposes a dialogue between Restiffe’s images and a selection of drawings, paintings, tapestries and films by Cocteau, presented in chapters that examine fundamental themes in his work.
