Fontvieille (; lij, Funtanaveya ) is the southernmost ward in the

Principality of Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria ...

. It was developed by an Italian architect, Manfredi Nicoletti, between the 1970s and the 1990s.

History

In contrast to the other city districts

Monaco-Ville Monaco City (french: Monaco-Ville) is the southcentral ward in the Principality of Monaco. Located on a headland that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, it is nicknamed The Rock (french: Le Rocher). The name "Monaco City" is misleading: it is no ...

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

and

La Condamine La Condamine ( lij, A Cundamina ) is the central ward in the Principality of Monaco. Its landmarks include Port Hercules, the Rainier III Nautical Stadium, and the Princess Antoinette Park. Its farmer's market at the ''Place d'Armes'' dates fro ...

, Fontvieille was constructed, after Italian engineer Gianfranco Gilardini's design, almost entirely on artificially

reclaimed land Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lak ...

and thus represents one of the younger parts of the principality. In order to combat the chronic land shortage in the extremely densely populated principality, the work was begun in 1966 to create new land in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

southwest of '' le rocher''. In 1981, Albert II, then Crown Prince, laid the cornerstone for the new city quarter. The existence of Fontvieille, and its many public works projects, relates substantially to former

Prince of Monaco The sovereign prince (french: prince de Monaco) is the monarch and head of state of the Principality of Monaco. All reigning princes have taken the name of the House of Grimaldi, although some have belonged to other families (Goyon de Matignon or ...

Prince Rainier III Rainier III (Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi; 31 May 1923 – 6 April 2005) was Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled the Principality of Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest-ruling m ...

's reputation as the Builder Prince. Plans announced in late 2009 to extend Fontvieille by the Department of Urban Development are currently being overseen by Prince Albert. The plan is to build a small 0.05 km² (0.02 sq mi) or 5.3 ha (13 acres) aura on the west side of the rock, currently planned to be finished by 2015. The new area will include three to four new hotels, corporate businesses, shops and apartments for between 600 and 800 newcomers. Despite not being the highest-priced part of Monaco, flats are also very expensive. For example, a 65 m² (700 ft²) one bedroom apartment with one bathroom and one car parking space was offered at €3,200,000 (about $3,514,000 US) in May 2015.

Geography

Fontvieille represents the southwestern portion of the

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

, which is an area of or . It accommodates 3,602. Four hectares (9.9 acres) of Fontvieille are given over to the

Fontvieille Park and Princess Grace Rose Garden The Fontvieille Park and the Princess Grace Rose Garden are two municipal parks in the Fontvieille district of Monaco. The parks are a combined in size, and are open daily from dawn to dusk. Fontvieille Park The park features a sculpture trail ...

. Part of Fontvieille's southern boundaries include the border with the French Republic where the Didier Deschamps Stadium and the Port of Cap d'Ail are located in close proximity.

Sport

Fontvieille contains

Stade Louis II The Stade Louis II () is a stadium located in the Fontvieille district of Monaco. It serves primarily as a venue for football, being the home of AS Monaco and the Monaco national football team. The stadium is most notable for its distinctive n ...

(or Louis II Stadium), which serves as the home ground of

AS Monaco FC Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club SA, commonly referred to as AS Monaco () or Monaco, is a professional football club based in Monaco that is member of French Football Federation (FFF) and competes in Ligue 1, the top tier of Fre ...

, a Monaco

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club that is one of the most successful in the French

national league The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. It also contains a small indoor sports arena called

Salle Gaston Médecin Salle Gaston Médecin, or Salle Omnisports, is an indoor sports arena that is located in Fontvieille, Monaco. It is used to host basketball, volleyball, and handball games, judo and fencing matches, and weightlifting and gymnastics competitions ...

where

AS Monaco Basket Association Sportive de Monaco Basketball Club, commonly referred to as A.S. Monaco Basket, is a French-registered Monaco-based professional basketball club. They are a part of the Monaco-based multi-sports club of A.S. Monaco, which was foun ...

what plays in

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

, and hosts other events like handball, volleyball, gymnastics, and more. Monaco's only racing team, ROKiT Venturi Racing – which competes in the

FIA Formula E World Championship Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who ...

– is also based in Fontvieille.

Landmarks

The district also contains the

Monaco Heliport Monaco Heliport (french: Héliport de Monaco, ), also known as Monte Carlo Heliport, is a heliport situated in the district of Fontvieille in the Principality of Monaco. The heliport is the only aviation facility within Monaco. It was opened wit ...

, which provides frequent links to

Nice Airport Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

in neighboring France, with connections to direct flights to New York,

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and other important

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an destinations. Monaco's

automobile museum An automotive museum is a museum that explores the history of automotive-related transportation. * Bold – Automotive museums owned by automotive manufacturers * ''Italics'' – no longer open to public access, excludes private or invitation on ...

, the

Monaco Top Cars Collection The Exhibition of HSH The Prince of Monaco's Car Collection is an automobile museum in the La Condamine district of Monaco. The cars were the personal collection of Prince Rainier III of Monaco (1923–2005), and assembled over a thirty-year perio ...

, is located on the Terrasses de Fontvieille. The Museum of Stamps and Coins displays Monegasque money dating to 1640, and illustrates the postal history of the principality. Columbus Hotel Monaco, which was owned by former racing driver

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (; born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver from Scotland, later turned presenter, commentator and journalist. Nicknamed 'DC', he competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between and , taking 13 Grand Prix vi ...

, is located in Fontvieille. Venturi and its subsidiary

Voxan Voxan Motors is a motorcycle manufacturer founded in Issoire, France in 1995. The brand was particularly known for its 996 cc, 72° V-twin engine. Founded by Jacques Gardette, the project was to build the first French motorcycle company in ...

are headquartered on the northern side of Fontvieille.

Gallery

File:Monaco – Heliport vor dem Cirque de Monte-Carlo - panoramio.jpg, The heliport File:Monaco005.jpg, A top view of the stadium File:Fontvieille harbour in 2017.jpg, Fontvieille harbour File:Monaco Monaco Museumsgebäude.JPG, Entrance to the automobile museum File:Roseraie Princesse Grace - panoramio (3).jpg, Princess Grace Rose Garden File:Monaco Fontvieille (48928513252).jpg, The harbour at dusk

Notable residents

David and Frederick Barclay Sir David Rowat Barclay (27 October 1934 – 10 January 2021) and Sir Frederick Hugh Barclay (born 27 October 1934), commonly referred to as the "Barclay Brothers" or "Barclay Twins", were British billionaires. They were identical twin brothers ...

, English entrepreneursPiers Morgan On Monte Carlo
/ref> *

Ken Bates Kenneth William Bates (born 4 December 1931) is a British businessman, football executive and hotelier. He was involved in the development of Wembley Stadium and is the former owner and chairman of football clubs Chelsea and Leeds United. Bate ...

, English hotelier *

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

, Swedish professional tennis player *

, Scottish racing driver * Nicolas Ioannou, Cypriot businessman *

Firoz Kassam Firoz Kassam (born 1955) is a British businessman. Born and brought up in Tanzania, of Indian descent, he came to Britain at the age of 19. He owned Oxford United F.C. from 1999 to 2006, and was named the 309th wealthiest person in the UK in t ...

, Tanzanian entrepreneur *

Ken McCulloch Kenneth Wilfred McCulloch (born November 1948) is a British hotelier, the founder of the hotel chains, Malmaison and Dakota Hotels Dakota Hotels is a UK-based hotel brand with five locations, each with a brasserie-style Grill and cocktail Bar ...

, English hotelier *

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Belgian-Dutch Auto racing, racing driver and the 2021 Formula One World Championship, 2021 and 2022 Formula One World Championship, 2022 Formula One World Champion. He Formula One drivers ...

, Dutch racing driver

References

External links

Fontvieille, Monaco
{{Authority control 1980s establishments in Monaco 1981 establishments in Europe France–Monaco border crossings Land reclamation Populated places established in 1981 Quarters of Monaco