Fort Antoine Theatre

About this place

Fort Antoine Theatre is a small open-air amphitheatre at the northeastern point of the Rock of Monaco. Once an early 18th-century fortress, it has kept its military character, and it looks out over the Mediterranean and the harbour, making a lovely quiet stop at the end of a walk across the Rock. Prince Antoine I built it in 1714 during the War of the Spanish Succession, with underground barracks and a cistern. In 1943 German forces used it as a munitions depot, then blew it up on retreating on 3 September 1944. Prince Rainier III had it rebuilt in 1953, and it has been an open-air theatre since 1970. A scene in the 1995 film GoldenEye was shot here. You see a thick stone wall on a rocky cliff, topped by a round sentry turret with a domed roof, above deep blue water. A pyramid of cannonballs stands at the centre of the theatre, and pittosporum hedges mark the parapet. The stone walls become a backdrop for shows on summer evenings. It is about 530 m in a straight line from the cathedral, an easy walk through the gardens of the Rock. Plays and concerts run here in the summer months, so check the programme. Do not climb the walls or go near the edge, as the cliff is high. Tunnels of the Grand Prix road run below it. Bring water and a hat by day, as the fort has little shade.