23 November 2007

The Church of St. Charles



When Prince Charles III decided to create Monte-Carlo in 1866, this area of the Principality was nothing but a huge plateau sloping gently towards the sea from the top of Monte Agel. At that time a sparse population lived in the few villas and houses scattered over the olive groves and scrubland. The only chapel that existed on the plateau of Monte-Carlo was Saint Laurent's chapel which was an ordinary private oratory, so any religious services had to take place in Saint Nicolas' on Le Rocher - Monaco's only parish church.

Prince Charles III had already anticipated the rapid growth of Monte Carlo due to the Casino and the rapid rise in the population and between 1879 and 1883 he built this church, replacing Saint Laurent's chapel, and naming it after Saint Charles Borromeo, his patron saint.

In shadow and half way up the steps is a modern sculpture of Cardinal Seduto, which I'll show you another time.

This photograph was taken from the Boulevard de Moulins, from which you can gain access to the church.

4 comments:

Gwen said...

Are those sphinx at the cupola (?) base, beautiful church. Although I don't comment often, your two blogs and their photographs are amazing.

K M F said...

nice

Anonymous said...

Yes, nice. Very pretty church. Looks like an early morning photo. Again, beautifully framed with the trees symmetrically at either side. You do have a good eye for a photograph, Jilly.

Anonymous said...

very nice...i see it in my dream,surf the net and viola! exactly the way it is..

Related Posts with Thumbnails