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MonacoThis large building constructed on the edge of a dramatic cliff was built in 1910 by Prince Albert I whose attraction to the sea was comparable to the current prince’s interest in cars. Outside the museum is an imposing edifice: Inside it has quirky Victorian charm with high-ceiling display rooms and a grand lecture hall. The displays are a decidedly eccentric mix of the personal and the scientific. Much of the space is devoted to the collections of the Prince who gathered catalogued and preserved (in jars) specimens of aquatic life. But famed French oceanographic cinematographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau was for a period the museum’s director. His films are screened in the lecture hall and his influence is seen in the first-rate aquarium in the first lower floor. (Below the public floors are research laboratories.) Displays provide written commentary in several languages and you’ll view displays of live species you’re unlikely to encounter anywhere else (most notably the otherworldly sea dragon and leafy sea dragon—they alone are worth the price of admission). Also on display are scrimshaw and decorated shells stuffed aquatic birds a submarine used by the U.S. in its War of Independence and a hall of skeletons (mostly whales but other large sea mammals as well). One hall also features exhibits explaining oceanographic phenomena—for instance how icebergs are formed—though most of the commentary is in French only. Before leaving stop for a drink or meal on the terrace—you can see quite a way down the Italian Riviera. In Monaco-ville.
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