A major chapter in the Principality’s public health history has been opened to researchers and the public, as the Centre Hospitalier Princesse Grace (CHPG) has officially transferred a significant body of documents to the Monegasque National Archives. The move, formalised by a new agreement between the two institutions, sheds light on over a century of healthcare evolution in Monaco—until now, locked away in institutional vaults.
Among the most notable materials in this first archival handover are the minutes of the hospital’s Board of Directors, meticulously recorded from 1904 to 1979, chronicling the hospital’s development from its founding through the post-war decades. The deposit also includes rare financial and budget records from the 1930s through the turbulent years of the Second World War, along with personnel files from the 1950s and documentation relating to the creation and organisation of public health services up to 1979.
This archival deposit marks the result of years of collaboration between the CHPG and the National Archives, both of which have worked to modernise archival practices and strengthen the preservation of Monaco’s documentary legacy. The signing of the agreement—between CHPG Director Benoîte Rousseau de Sevelinges and National Archives Director Michaël Bloche—not only secures the long-term conservation of these records but also reaffirms a shared vision to bring Monaco’s health and social history into the spotlight.
The transfer adds to a growing list of institutional collaborations with the Archives, which have previously welcomed historical contributions from the National Council, the Centre Scientifique de Monaco and the RAMOGE environmental initiative. As these once-inaccessible documents become available for future generations, they promise to enrich the understanding of Monaco’s social fabric through the lens of its healthcare system—past, present and future.
