Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost and Hours:
€4.50, includes audioguide, €13 combo-ticket includes Palace of the
Popes, same hours as the Palace of the Popes (described next), tel. 04 90 27 51 16.
Visiting the Bridge:
The ticket booth is housed in what was a medieval hospital for
the poor (funded by bridge tolls). Admission includes a small room dedicated to the song
of Avignon's bridge and your only chance to walk a bit of the ramparts (enter both from
the tower). A Romanesque chapel on the bridge is dedicated to St. Bénezet. Though there's
not much to see on the bridge, the audioguide included with your ticket tells a good enough
story. It's also fun to be in the breezy middle of the river with a sweeping city view.
• To get to the Palace of the Popes from here, exit left, then turn left again back into the
walls.Walktotheendoftheshortstreet,thenturnrightfollowingsignstoPalaisdesPapes.
Next, look for brown signs leading left under the passageway. After a block of uphill walk-
ing, find the stairs to the palace square.
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Palace of the Popes (Palais des Papes)
In 1309, a French pope was elected (Pope Clément V). At the urging of the French king, His
Holiness decided that dangerous Italy was no place for a pope, so he moved the whole op-
eration to Avignon for a secure rule under a supportive king. The Catholic Church literally
bought Avignon (then a two-bit town), and popes resided here until 1403. Meanwhile, Itali-
ans demanded a Roman pope, so from 1378 on, there were twin popes—one in Rome and
one in Avignon—causing a schism in the Catholic Church that wasn't fully resolved until
1417.
Cost and Hours:
€10.50 (more for special exhibits), includes audioguide, €13 combo-
ticket includes St. Bénezet Bridge, daily mid-March-Oct 9:00-19:00, until 20:00 in July-
Sept,until21:00inAug,Nov-mid-March 9:30-17:45,lastentryonehourbeforeclosing,tel.
04 90 27 50 74,
www.palais-des-papes.com
.
Visiting the Palace:
A visit to the mighty yet barren papal palace comes with a slick
multimedia audioguide that leads you along a one-way route and does a decent job of over-
coming the complete lack of furnishings. It teaches the basic history while allowing you to
tour at your own pace. A small museum inside the palace also helps add context. Still, tour-
ing the palace is pretty anticlimactic, given its historic importance.
As you wander, ponder that this palace—the largest surviving Gothic palace in
Europe—was built to accommodate 500 people as the administrative center of the Holy See
andhomeofthepope.Thiswasthemostfortified palace oftheage(remember,thepopeleft
Rome to be more secure). Nine popes ruled from here, making this the center of Christianity
for nearly 100 years. You'll walk through the pope's personal quarters (frescoed with happy
hunting scenes), see many models of how the various popes added to the building, and learn
