The owners are transforming their building into a 4,500 m² art museum in Menton (and it opens this Wednesday)

A new cultural page is opening in Menton. Tomorrow, the Marabini-Martac Museum opens its doors within the Grand Hôtel des Ambassadeurs , rue Partouneaux. The Italian couple Liana Marabini-Martac and Mauro Marabini, publishers, film producers, patrons and collectors, have decided to transform the hotel, which they have owned for 20 years, into a 4,500 square meter museum . "The uniqueness of the Marabini-Martac Museum lies in its innovative exhibition concept: each room is dedicated to a specific theme and houses not only works of art - paintings, sculptures, installations - but also books and manuscripts from the 15th century to the present day, in a permanent dialogue between the different forms of artistic expression," the press release reads. This multidisciplinary approach allows for a deeper exploration of the historical, cultural and symbolic context of the works on display, offering visitors an immersive and engaging experience."

Illustrate the relationship between art and lifestyles

The venue's first temporary exhibition is titled "The Art of Living Through the Centuries." It's a journey through paintings, sculptures, ancient texts, and manuscripts aimed at illustrating the relationship between art and lifestyles throughout history. An ambitious goal, one that hasn't deterred Liana Marabini-Martac, who is also responsible for patronage at the Vatican Museums for the Monaco and Côte d'Azur chapter. All the other thematic galleries form the museum's permanent exhibition, from photography to landscapes, including movie posters and a room dedicated to the English bulldog. There's also a collection of original works by Salvador Dalí that were used to illustrate a book by Honoré de Balzac, Les Contes Drolatiques. The artworks on display span ten centuries of history, and even longer, as some objects date back to the times of Mesopotamia and the Roman Empire.

"We commune with space there"

"The originality of the museum is that you can come back as many times as you like and stay in a room to soak up the place. You commune with the space ," says François Jacquot, departmental president of the National Order of Merit of the Alpes-Maritimes and vice-president of the association in charge of managing the museum. "Art creates beauty, beauty gives hope and can change the world," says Liana Marabini-Martac.

The Monegasque woman points out in passing that the museum was created without any involvement from the French government. "We find we're freer to exhibit what we want by funding it 100% ourselves. Too many people weigh on the French government, which is very generous. We are guests in this country, so we leave the government to the French people; that's our code of ethics."

The Marabini-Martac Museum hosts three temporary exhibitions per year, each lasting three months. The top floor of the building remains dedicated to luxury hospitality, reserved for clients working in the artistic community. Each suite is an art gallery dedicated to a figure, including the inevitable Jean Cocteau.