Sights of Avignon: history, photos, videos

😉 Greetings to the readers of the site “Ladies-Gentlemen”! I invite you for a walk to the city of Avignon. For lovers of history and travel, the sights of Avignon will be very interesting. Michel Nostradamus studied in this city, the famous singer Mireille Mathieu was born here.

Attractions in Avignon

The French city of Avignon is located in the Vaucluse department of the Provence region. These are the Cote d’Azur and the French Alps. On the one hand, the city is surrounded by the waters of the Rhone River, on the other – by small hills of limestone. The population is about 100 thousand people.

Avignon is one of the most famous tourist centers not only in France, but also in Europe. The symbol of the city is the papal castle built in the XIV century on a high hill. The beginning of the construction was laid in 1316, and completed fifty-four years later.

At the first mention of Avignon, associations with the Pope involuntarily arise. The history of the city dates back to the distant Roman times, when the small settlement of Avenio was considered the main one by one of the Gaul tribe – the Kavars.

In the city today, curious tourists can view the ruins of ancient fortifications that have remained from ancient times. If you’re lucky, you can find some thing that still belongs to the Roman legionaries.

In the Middle Ages, this picturesque area was owned by the popes. Under an agreement in 1797, the area was transferred to France. There are large masses of excellent sand in the vicinity. Now it is exported in tons to Italy, where very high quality glass is produced from it. The sand trade served as a good income even under the rule of the popes.

Avignon was the seat of the popes for nearly seventy years. Pope Clement V moved here from Rome by order of the King of France. But even later Avignon until 1409 remained the seat of the so-called unrecognized popes.

A bit of history

The growth of a small town located on the navigable Rhone began in the XNUMXth century. It was then that he became the residence of the popes and the Holy See. At the end of the XIV century, it was already a city of fame comparable to Paris or London.

Simultaneously with the construction of the palace, many religious buildings, chapels and churches were built. As well as residential buildings where bishops, dignitaries and laymen settled. A little later, a university was founded here.

Subsequently, the palace was significantly expanded, gardens were planted around. After the papal residence was transferred back to Rome, the legates remained in Avignon. After the French Revolution, Avignon almost completely lost its significance, due to the numerous robberies in the city.

In the XX century, a museum was created in the palace, which helped to preserve many unique historical documents.

Papal palace

The most important attraction is undoubtedly the Bishops’ Palace. At first glance, it does not in any way resemble any religious building. It looks more like a military military fortress, towering over the city.

All this was seen by the eyes of Nostradamus when he lived in Avignon

This is a beautiful white stone building with a total area of ​​15 thousand square meters. meters. In terms of architecture, it consists of two parts: the Old Palace and the adjacent Notre Dame and the New Palace.

Inside there are two quadrangular courtyards. In the palace itself there are many rooms, both rich to celebrate papal ceremonies, and humble, where prayers and funeral services were performed. As befits a medieval castle, it has Les Remparts bastions.

Not far from the palace is the 58th-XNUMXth century Romanesque cathedral Notre-Dame-de-Dôme. It is adorned with a magnificent figure of the Virgin Mary. Here you can see the tombs of famous popes. The cathedral is located on a XNUMX-meter cliff nearby, connected by the Papal Palace.

Curious tourists will undoubtedly be interested in the exposition of the Aspri Calvet Museum. There is a fairly large collection of paintings and various objects of art from the doctor’s collection, bequeathed to the city in 1810.

Major Attractions

There are also several 900th century chapels and famous frescoes by Simone Martini. The world’s oldest medieval bridge, Saint-Benese, is also connected with the history of the city. It was originally XNUMX meters long. But due to frequent floods, most of the spans were destroyed, today there are only four of them.

All monuments – attractions of Avignon are on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Avignon is not only the Papal Palace, but also the everyday life of a modern city and cultural events that still take into account the tastes of tourists. Every year there is a festival where you can watch performances.

During this period, the city seems to be reviving. At least forty performances are staged on the stage in front of the palace, from light vaudeville to classic historical drama. The event is accompanied by a market trade where tourists can buy books, posters and souvenirs.

Avignon is surrounded by battlements, also built in the middle of the XNUMXth century, with a thickness of more than three meters. The walls have thirty turrets and solid iron gates. This is an excellent example of the art of fortification of the Middle Ages.

Other attractions

Attractions in Avignon include the city hall with a XNUMXth-century Gothic tower, the Crillon hotel in the same style, the palace of the archbishops and the theater from the mid-XNUMXth century.

Of the sculptural compositions, it is worth visiting the statues of Crillon and Petrarch, as well as the monument to Philip Heinrich Girard.

In addition to various temples, there were twenty monasteries for monks and fifteen for nuns, in which bells were ringing several times every day. Let me remind you that precisely because of this ringing, the famous writer Francois Rabelais called Avignon “ringing”.

In the 1791th-1348th centuries, the monasteries found a different purpose, and some were destroyed. In 1845, the church of the Franciscans was destroyed, where there was a tomb of the very Laura de Sade, which the poet Petrarch glorified all over the world. She died of a plague epidemic in this monastery in XNUMX. A very beautiful synagogue building was completely destroyed by a fire in XNUMX.

In the Celestine Church there is the tomb of Antipope Clement VII and Saint Benizet. According to his project, a stone bridge was built connecting Avignon with Villeneuve-pez-Avignon.

It was built in 1188. In 1669 it collapsed as a result of several severe floods. Now there are four spans out of twenty-two and a chapel. Today these cities are connected by a well-fortified suspension bridge.

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