Spring 2022

© Jill Converyr
Saint-Bénézet bridge – the
Pont d’Avignon
The building of the bridge of Avignon was
begun in 1175 after a 10 year-old shepherd
from the Ardèche named Bénézet (which
means ‘Little Benoit’) claimed to have been
told by God to build a bridge along the
waterfront in Avignon. Legend has it that, after
walking to Avignon, accompanied by an angel
disguised as a pilgrim, he was challenged by
the Bishop’s provost to carry an impossibly
large block of stone to the water’s edge. It
was so large, it was said that thirty strong men
couldn’t move it. The tale goes that aided
by angels bathed in golden light, he hoisted
the stone onto his shoulder and laid it as the
foundation stone for the Bridge. Overcome
by this miraculous feat, benefactors supplied
sufficient funds. It took ten years to complete
the bridge. Bénézet’s feat was declared a
miracle, though he died without seeing it
completed, he died in 1184. Pilgrims flocked
to see the bridge whose fame spread far and
wide, and the shepherd became the patron
saint of bridge builders.
Originally almost a kilometre long, the bridge
had 22 arches. It was built at a point of the
river where the force of water was so strong,
even Roman engineers were deterred from
building there. Today, only four arches remain,
the bridge having been poor maintained,
reconstructed several times and finally swept
away by floods, it collapsed in the 17th century
and it’s said that King Louis XIV was one of the
last people to walk across it.
On the bridge the little stone Chapel of Saint-
Bénézet where the saint was originally buried,
was rebuilt in 1414 after the “War of the
Catalonians”. The Saint’s remains are now in
the nearby 14th century Gothic church of Saint-
Didier, built during the time of the Popes in Avignon.
The ramparts of Avignon
The old city of Avignon is encircled by
ramparts. They are 4.3km long and were
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