Virtual walk. In Avignon, in the den of the popes

In the 14th century – and for a century – Avignon was the capital of Christendom. Far from Rome, the Palais des Papes (built in barely 20 years) successively hosted nine popes, six conclaves… thus writing a page in the history of the papacy in Vaucluse.
The site, which received 680,000 visitors in 2019, has been listed as a UNESCO heritage site since 1995.

Clément V chooses to settle in Avignon

It was in 1305 that this page of Avignon’s history was played out. After a long conclave, it was Bertrand de Got, Archbishop of Bordeaux, who was elected Pope, under the name of Clément V. He then chose Avignon to establish himself, for strategic and symbolic reasons: the city was politically stable, closely linked to the papacy, secure (because it is surrounded by ramparts) and has an opening onto the Mediterranean.

It is also located opposite the kingdom of France, on the other side of the Rhône and landlocked in the Comtat Venaissin (one of the territorial emanations of the pontifical properties outside Italy). It is in this context that the Palace of the Popes was built.

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John XXII, who succeeds Clement V, shapes a palace that meets the organizational needs of the Church (tax collection, treatment of justice, diplomacy, etc.), liturgical practices, while welcoming the pontiff and his court.

It is this pope who, the first, decides to occupy it in a continuous way. Interior fittings are made accordingly. He was particularly attached to painted decorations, of which unfortunately few traces remain today.

The popes who followed one another made changes: Benedict XII built the Pope’s tower and many buildings (Conclave wing, private apartments, Study tower, Consistory wing, etc.), Clement VI built new wings, towers, gates and reorganize the gardens, Urbain V is developing an orchard and carrying out beautification work …

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In 1376, return to Rome

In 1376, Gregory XI restored the seat of the papacy in Rome. When he died, two years later, violent Roman demonstrations broke out and forced the cardinals to elect an Italian pope, Urban VI.

The Great Western Schism breaks out and lasts 40 years. Benedict XIII, pope installed in Avignon, refuses to resign to promote the reunion of the Church. A five-year siege is conducted to drive him out of the palace.

But the departure of the Pope and his court empties the Avignon palace. A legate was appointed to administer the city and the Comtat Venaissin and begin work on the Palace, badly damaged by the sieges carried out against Benedict XIII and by a fire in 1413.

In the 18th century, when the functions of legate and vice-legate disappeared, the palace deteriorated.
During the revolution, the Palace of the Popes became a revolutionary prison then was looted, degraded, abandoned. At the beginning of the 19th century, the building was assigned to the army.

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In 1907, the City acquired the palace and restoration campaigns – under the aegis of an architect of Historic Monuments – began and still continued. All year round, the Palais des Papes hosts many cultural events, including the famous Avignon Festival, created in 1947.

Currently closed, a virtual visit nevertheless allows you to stroll through the Palace of the Popes in Avignon and have different points of view. You can see: the main courtyard, the flagship site of the Avignon festival, the Benoît XII cloister (old palace), the former garden of Benedict XII, the impressive loggia …

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