Spring 2022

For many, the first thing that springs to mind when thinking of Avignon in Provence is
the well-known French children’s song about dancing on a bridge in the city:
“sur le pont d’Avignon, l’on y danse, l’on y danse”. But did you know that the 12th
century bridge is UNESCO listed? And it’s not the only UNESCO-listed site in this
medieval city…
The UNESCO-listed sites of Avignon
Palais des Papes and the
Place du Palais
From 1309 to 1377 Avignon was the seat of
seven successive Catholic Popes beginning
with Clement V, a Frenchman. Unrest in
Rome and politics played a part in the
decision to move papal power to Provence.
Of course the Popes had to have somewhere
suitable to live. The monumental Palais des
Papes, the Popes’ Palace, was built between
1335 to 1352 and over the years there were
more modifications. Jean Froissart, a 14th
century chronicler and writer who visited
Avignon, described it as “the most beautiful
and strongest house in the world” and it
housed Europe’s largest library at the time. It
wasn’t cheap to build, costing 400,000 Livres
(the French currency at the time), six times
what Pope Clement VI spent when he bought
the city of Avignon from Johanna, Countess
of Provence, in 1348 – the city was only
reclaimed by France in 1793.
Set in the immense Place du Palais, the palace
is as big as five cathedrals with a whopping
15,000 m² of floor space (three times the size
of the White House in Washington DC). It is
the biggest Gothic palace in the world.
When the Papal court was moved back to
Rome, dissident cardinals in Avignon “elected”
50 | The Good Life France