Chapelle de la Madone

Menton sits on the border between France and Italy. The Chapelle de la Madone, also known as Notre Dame de Carnolès, is the oldest place of worship in the town. The building goes back to the eleventh century. It lies along the old Roman road, the Via Julia Augusta. Across from it stands what was once the summer residence of the Princes of Monaco, now the Palais de Carnolès. That palace houses the city's fine arts museum.

For about four hundred years the chapel belonged to the Grimaldi family, the dynasty that still reigns in Monaco. Around its altar you can see some of the oldest Grimaldi coats of arms outside the principality. It formed part of a wider estate that included the park, the palace and the gardens of Carnolès. In 1863 the whole domain passed from Monaco to France. The chapel once came close to demolition before the town took it over in 1994. After decades of abandonment the building still shows many cracks and signs of decay.

Architects who specialise in historic monuments are leading a restoration, and the Fondation du Patrimoine supports it. The work comes in two phases: the first covers the roof, the interior walls and the porch. The second phase restores the seventeenth-century baroque altarpiece and the spaces inside and out. They also plan to rebuild the chapel's vanished first section, restoring part of its original shape. The front part will remain in religious use while the choir hosts exhibitions and concerts. Beside the chapel, where the medieval cloister once stood, the ground will become a rosary garden, as Princess Grace of Monaco wished. Local tradition places the tomb of a monk named Schiavone, who died in 1530, somewhere in the building. The spot was once credited with miraculous healings, though nobody knows where the tomb is.