MONACO (June 30, 2026) – This summer, the Grimaldi Forum Monaco presents an exceptional exhibition celebrating more than 130 years of ties between the Principality and the automobile.
With Monaco & the Automobile, from 1893 to the Present Day, more than 50 iconic vehicles trace this singular history, from the earliest days of motoring to today’s most advanced technologies.
From the close of the 19th century, Monaco established itself as a pioneering territory: a laboratory of innovation, notably through early experiments with paved roads, and a platform of international influence, thanks to its early hosting of motoring events. Over time, the Principality became a singular stage where the automobile expresses itself in every form — elegance, through the concours d’élégance held around the Casino starting in 1897; endurance, through the Monte-Carlo Rally launched in 1911; and performance, through the Monaco Grand Prix, raced on city streets since 1929.
The exhibition gathers nearly 20 Monte-Carlo Rally cars and around thirty Grand Prix single-seaters, including some of the most celebrated in motorsport history.
Among them are the Bugatti 35B, winner of the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix in 1929, and the Ferrari driven to victory by Charles Leclerc in 2024, alongside legendary rally cars such as the Mini Cooper S, winner in 1964, and the Lancia Stratos HF, victorious in 1977.
Also on display are the Panhard & Levassor Type P2D — today the oldest running gasoline-powered car in the world, which arrived in Monaco in 1893 — and the Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith used for the wedding of Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly in 1956.
Assembled with the help of international lenders, every vehicle on display is an authentic model that competed, and often won, in Monaco’s major events. Never before has a collection of this caliber and historical significance been brought together in a single exhibition.
The exhibition also turns to contemporary challenges, featuring a Venturi Formula E single-seater that reflects new technological and energy directions in motorsport, alongside the Venturi Space rover MONA LUNA, designed to operate at the Moon’s South Pole by 2030.
Spread across more than 37,000 square feet, the exhibition offers an immersive journey blending cars, objects, imagery, and scenographic installations, inviting visitors to relive the great moments of Monaco’s automotive history.
Originally planned for 2020 and postponed due to the pandemic, the exhibition will finally open in 2026, set to be one of the season’s major cultural highlights.
Curated by Rodolphe Rapetti, Chief Heritage Curator, art historian and automobile specialist, the exhibition follows in the footsteps of The Art of the Automobile – Masterpieces from the Ralph Lauren Collection, which drew more than 150,000 visitors in Paris in 2011.
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