Monte Carlo Casino

The Casino de Monte-Carlo is a legendary gambling facility, known for the sublime location and Beaux Arts style architecture; it also contains an opera and ballet house, and was built in1893 by Charles Garnier, the architect of the Paris Opera House. The paved marble 'atrium' is flanked by 28 onyx columns in the Ionic style, opening into the red and gold Opera Hall, in use for over 100 years for opera, concerts and ballets.

The series of "Gaming Rooms" each have their own unique atmosphere and decorations, while the casino itself is known for the exceptional diversity of its table games. Citizens of Monaco are forbidden to enter the gaming rooms, which are a model for the setting of the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale,

Salon Renaissance is one of the Casino's oldest rooms, a large vestibule at the entrance to the Salon de l'Europe, the first gaming room opened in 1865 with Moorish style decorations produced in Paris. Designed and built in 1903, the Salon Rose was intended for male and female gamblers who couldn’t refrain from smoking.

The Salle Blanche is designed as a conversation parlour, with chandeliers atop huge caryatids and "Belle Epoque" paintings. The Salons Prives are lined with natural leather and mahogany paneling; the Cabaret was built in 1910 as a chamber music room; and finally the Opera Hall, Salle Garnier designed and built by Charles Garnier in 1878, was hung with five paintings, including "L'Allegorie de la Danse."