Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rue de la République and widened Place de l'Horloge. This main drag's Parisian feel is
intentional—it was built not in the Provençal manner, but in the Haussmann style that is
so dominant in Paris (characterized by broad, straight boulevards lined with stately build-
ings).
• Walk slightly uphill past the carousel (public WCs behind). Veer right at the Hôtel des
Palais des Papes and continue into...
Palace Square (Place du Palais)
Pull up a concrete stump just past the café. Nicknamed
bites
(slang for the male anatomy),
thesestumpseffectivelykeepcarsfromdouble-parkinginareasdesignedforpeople.Many
of the metal ones slide up and down by remote control to let privileged cars come and go.
Now take in the scene. This grand square is lined with the Palace of the Popes, the
Petit Palais, and the cathedral. In the 1300s the entire headquarters of the Catholic Church
was moved to Avignon. The Church bought Avignon and gave it a complete makeover.
Alongwithclearingoutvastspaceslikethissquareandbuildingthisthree-acrepalace,the
Church erected more than three miles of protective wall (with 39 towers), “appropriate”
housing for cardinals (read: mansions), and residences for its entire bureaucracy. The city
was Europe's largest construction zone. Avignon's population grew from 6,000 to 25,000
in short order.(Today,13,000people live within the walls.) The limits ofpre-papal Avign-
on are outlined on your city map: Rues Joseph Vernet, Henri Fabre, des Lices, and Phi-
lonarde all follow the route of the city's earlier defensive wall.
The Petit Palais (Little Palace) seals the uphill end of the square and was built for
a cardinal; today it houses medieval paintings (museum described later). The church just
to the left of the Palace of the Popes is Avignon's cathedral. It predates the Church's pur-
chase of Avignon by 200 years. Its small size reflects Avignon's modest, pre-papal popu-
lation. The gilded Mary was added in 1854, when the Vatican established the doctrine of
her Immaculate Conception. Mary is taller than the Palace of the Popes by design: The
Vatican never accepted what it called the “Babylonian Captivity” and had a bad attitude
about Avignon long after the pope was definitively back in Rome. There hasn't been a
French pope since the Holy See returned to Rome—over 600 years ago. That's what I call
a grudge.
Right behind you, across the square from the palace's main entry stands a cardinal's
residence, built in 1619 (now the Conservatoire National de Musique). Its fancy Baroque
facade was a visual counterpoint to the stripped-down Huguenot aesthetic of the age. Dur-
ing this time, Provence was a hotbed of Protestantism—but, buried within this region,
Avignon was a Catholic stronghold.
