Metal oxide nanocrystals deposited on metal surfaces have novel electronic properties due to interface and nanoscale effects. Crystals and nanoscale ribbons of MoO{sub 3} are highly effective catalysts and field emitters. This renders MoO{sub 3} an interesting prototype. Whilst MoO{sub 3} exists as bilayers in the bulk crystal5, in this work, monolayer MoO{sub 3} nanocrystals were grown epitaxially on Au(111). Ab initio calculations reveal that Au stabilizes the MoO{sub 3} monolayer through electronic charge redistribution at the interface. The Mo-O bonds are able to rotate about one another, allowing the MoO{sub 3} monolayer to adjust to the Au lattice. As a result, the monolayer is semimetallic, unlike bulk MoO{sub 3} which is semiconducting. This remarkable flexibility of the oxide lattice suggests the possibility of tuning electronic properties of transition metal oxides via interface interactions. The overall surface pattern obtained is affected by an interplay between the Au(111) surface reconstruction and the edges of the deposited MoO{sub 3} islands.