Monaco

The Principality of Monaco is both a sovereign city-state and a micro-state on the French Riviera, a few kilometers to the west of the Liguria region of Italy, on the Mediterranean coast of Western Europe. Monaco's tiny territory is made up of a dense cluster of hills and a headland overlooking the Mediterranean to the south. But many of its unusual features have made Monaco one of the world's most luxurious tourist resorts, and have earned it a reputation far beyond its size. It is widely regarded as being one of the most expensive and richest places in the world. After the Vatican City, it is the second smallest sovereign state in the world and the most densely populated. The Chemin des Révoires, a narrow path at 161 m above sea level, is the highest point in the state, on the slopes of Mont Agel in the Les Révoires ward. Monaco has a wide range of architecture, but the principality's distinctive style, especially in Monte-Carlo, is Belle Époque. The Casino of 1878-79 and the Salle Garnier are the most florid expressions of the style. Decorative elements comprise turrets, balconies, pinnacles, polychrome ceramics and caryatids. French, Italian and Spanish capriccio elements have been incorporated into the hacienda villas and apartments. After major developments in the 1970s, Prince Rainier III banned high-rise buildings in the principality, but his successor, Prince Albert II, overturned this sovereign order. The accelerating destruction of Monaco's architectural heritage, including its single-family villas, has caused consternation recent years.