What to See in Avignon - Top Sights and Attractions

Historic remains of 12th-century bridge. The Pont Saint-Bénézet, also known as the Pont d'Avignon, was a medieval bridge across the Rhône in the town of Avignon, in southern France. Only four arches survive.

A wooden bridge spanning the Rhône between Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Avignon was built between 1177 and 1185. This early bridge was destroyed forty years later in 1226 during the Albigensian Crusade when Louis VIII of France laid siege to Avignon. Beginning in 1234 the bridge was rebuilt with 22 stone arches. The stone bridge was about 900 m (980 yd) in length and only 4.9 m (16 ft 1 in) in width, including the parapets at the sides. The bridge was abandoned in the mid-17th century as the arches tended to collapse each time the Rhône flooded making it very expensive to maintain. Four arches and the gatehouse at the Avignon end of the bridge have survived. The Chapel of Saint Nicholas which sits on the second pier of the bridge, was constructed in the second half of 12th century but has since been substantially altered. The western terminus, the Tour Philippe-le-Bel, is also preserved.

The bridge was the inspiration for the song Sur le pont d'Avignon and is considered a landmark of the city. In 1995, the surviving arches of the bridge were classified as a World Heritage Site, together with the Palais des Papes, Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms, and other monuments from the historic centre of Avignon, because of its testimony to Avignon's leading role in the Papacy during the 14th and 15th centuries.^[2]

Fortress in Avignon, France. The walls of Avignon are a series of defensive stone walls that surround the city of Avignon in the south of France. They were originally built in the 14th century during the Avignon papacy and have been continually rebuilt and repaired throughout their subsequent history.

The walls replaced an earlier double set of defensive walls that had been completed in the first two decades of the 13th century. During the Albigensian Crusade the town sided with the Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII but in 1226, after a three-month siege by Louis VIII of France, Avignon capitulated and was forced to dismantle the walls and fill in the moats. Beginning in around 1231, the defences were rebuilt. Although these early walls have not survived, their path is preserved in the street plan of the city.

In 1309 Pope Clement V moved to Avignon and under the papacy the town expanded outside the limits of the earlier city walls. From the 1350s during the Hundred Years' War the town became vulnerable to pillage by marauding bands of mercenaries and in 1357 under Innocent VI, the fifth Avignon pope, work began on the construction of new set of city walls to enclose the expanded town. The walls took nearly 20 years to complete.

The walls stretch for 4.3 km (2.7 mi) and enclose an area of 150 ha (370 acres). There were originally twelve gates controlling access to the city but this number was reduced to seven when the fortifications were modified between 1481 and 1487. There are now 15 vehicular entrances and 11 pedestrian entrances.^[3]

12th-century cathedral with papal tombs. Avignon Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located next to the Palais des Papes in Avignon, France. The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Avignon.

The cathedral is a Romanesque building, constructed primarily in the second half of the 12th century. The bell tower collapsed in 1405 and was rebuilt in 1425. In 1670–1672 the apse was rebuilt and extended. This led to the destruction of the medieval cloister.

The building was abandoned and allowed to deteriorate during the Revolution, but it was reconsecrated in 1822 and restored by the archbishop Célestin Dupont in 1835–1842. The most prominent feature of the cathedral is a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary atop the bell tower which was erected in 1859. The interior contains many works of art. The most famous of these is the mausoleum of Pope John XXII (died 1334), a 14th-century Gothic edifice. It was moved in 1759, damaged during the Revolution, and restored to its original position in 1840. The cathedral was listed as a Monument historique in 1840. In 1995, the cathedral, along with the Palais des Papes and other historic buildings in the Avignon city center, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its outstanding architecture and its importance during the 14th and 15th centuries.^[4]

Fortress in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France. Tour Philippe-le-Bel is a medieval tower in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon which marked the French terminus of the Saint-Bénézet Bridge across the Rhone between the Kingdom of France and Papal territory of Avignon. It is named after the French king Philippe-le-Bel who was responsible for its construction.

A tower with only two storeys was completed in 1302. In spite of protests from the Count of Provence and the population of Avignon, Philippe-le-Bel pressed ahead and built a gatehouse at the end of the bridge. The tower and gatehouse formed part of a fortress with a curtain wall that enclosed several buildings including a chapel and a residence for the châtelain. A third storey was added to the tower in the middle of the 14th century.

The Saint-Bénézet Bridge was abandoned in 1669 and the fortress then ceased to serve any useful function. The French crown continued to pay for repairs, but after the French Revolution the buildings were abandoned and allowed to fall into ruins. In 1822 the town of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon decided to demolish all of the fortress except the present tower. It was listed as a Monument historique in 1862 and is now open to the public.^[7]

Museum in Avignon, France. La Fondation Calvet is an art foundation in Avignon, France, named for Esprit Calvet, who left his collections and library to it in 1810. The foundation maintains several museums and two libraries, with support from the town. The original legacies of paintings, archaeological items, coins and medals, and medieval sculpture have been added to by many other legacies, and a significant deposit of works of art from the Louvre. The archaeological collections and medieval sculpture are now housed separately in the "Musée Lapidaire" - once the chapel of the Jesuit College. The main museum is in an 18th-century city mansion, to which modern buildings have been added; the Library bequeathed by Calvet, and the important collection of over 12,000 coins and medals, have moved to a different location in the city.

The foundation has changed its name on several occasions. It was initially called the "Bibliothèque Calvet", then the "Museum Calvet", then "Musée Calvet", and since 1985 the "Fondation Calvet". The foundation now manages seven museums, two libraries, and an important collection of coins and medals.

In Avignon:

• Bibliothèque Calvet, the main library, housed since 1986 in part of what was once a cardinal's palace, the Livrée Ceccano
• Musée Calvet, the main art gallery, housed in an 18th-century city mansion (a hôtel particulier), the Hôtel de Villeneuve-Martignan
• Médaillier Calvet, a collection of coins and medals
• Musée Lapidaire, a collection of sculptures and archeological finds, housed in what was once the chapel of a Jesuit college
• Museum et Bibliothèque Requien, a natural history museum
• Musée du Petit Palais, a collection of medieval and renaissance paintings

In Cavaillon, 25 km southeast of Avignon:

• Musée Archéologique de l'Hôtel-Dieu
• Musées Jouve et Juif Comtadin

Local painters, including Pierre Parrocel and the Mignard family, are especially well represented, as is Hubert Robert. Other painters include Josse Lieferinxe, Giorgio Vasari, Luca Giordano, Salvator Rosa, Frans Francken the Younger, Jan Brueghel the Younger, Sebastiano Ricci, Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Joseph Vernet, Jacques-Louis David, Alexis Leon Louis Valbrun, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Théodore Géricault, Honoré Daumier, Camille Corot, Édouard Manet, Alfred Sisley, Maurice de Vlaminck and Chaïm Soutine.^[12]