Sightseeing
Overview
In Avignon, everything worth seeing is within easy
walking distance and orientation is not difficult. The city is enclosed
within fortified medieval walls, with the River Rhône
to the north and west of the town. The Palais des Papes
and Pont St Bénezet are in the north, connected
by the place du Palais, which itself runs into Avignon’s central
square (place de l’Horloge) just a little south. This square
is home to the impressive Hôtel de Ville
and the Opera House, decorated with statues of
former visitors Corneille and Molière. From here, the main
thoroughfare, the rue de la République, turns into the cours
Jean Jaurès as it approaches the southern city walls and
the railway station. To the east are several shopping streets and
a mass of interesting restaurants and cafés.
One of the best way for visitors to explore Avignon is to wander
through its maze of medieval streets. Many take their names from
inns (such as rue du Chapeau Rouge) or from trades, such as rue
des Fourbisseurs (‘weapon sharpeners’), rue du Vieux
Sextier (‘Old Sexton’) and rue des Teinturiers, named
after the dying process inherent in calico printing. For travelling
off the beaten path, the rue Joseph-Vernet is a
good bet, lined with Avignon’s most stylish shops, old hotels
and quaint courtyards and gardens. More imposing but still frequented,
mainly by the locals, is the cathedral, Notre-Dame des Doms,
a brief walk past the Palais des Papes. The cathedral
is surrounded by Rocher des Doms, a charming public
park offering magnificent views of the city and the Rhône.
Avignon also has a cluster of interesting little museums that are
clearly detailed on a free map available at the Avignon
Tourist Office. Most notable is the Musée Angladon, 5
rue Laboureur (telephone number: (04) 9082 2903), which displays
the private collection of aesthete Jacques Doucet, including Modigliani’s
The Pink Blouse and Van Gogh’s The Railroad
Cars.
Tourist Information
Office de Tourisme d’Avignon
41 cours Jean Jaurès
Telephone number: (04) 3274 3274. Fax number: (04) 9082 9503.
E-mail: information@ot-avignon.fr
Website: www.avignon-tourisme.com
and www.ot-avignon.fr
Opening hours: Monday-Saturday 0900-1800 hrs,
Sunday 1000-1700 (Apil-September), Monday-Friday 0900-1800 hrs,
Saturday 0900-1700 hrs, Sunday 1000-1200 hrs (October-March).
There is also an information office at Espace St Bénezet,
open daily 1000-1900 hrs (April-October).
Passes
The Avignon Passion card is available free at participating
museums, on tourist transport and at Avignon and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
tourist offices. The pass offers cut-price admission with reductions
of 20–50 per cent after the first full-price attraction has
been visited and includes all the various sightseeing tours listed
in the Tours of the City section. Participating museums and attractions
include Musée Clavet, Musée Vouland, Musée
du Petit Palais, Palais des Papes and Pont St Bénezet.
The pass is valid for 2 weeks of unlimited visits for the holder
and their family.
Key Attractions
Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes)
This palace-fortress looms above the city. The immense courtyard
in front, lined with cafés and restaurants, is also the
impressive setting for the Avignon Festival,
while the battlements offer wonderful views. The palace was built
over 30 years, during the reign of three popes, Bénédict
XII, Clément VI and Innocent VI. The palace is based on
the fusion of two buildings, the austere ‘Old Palace’
(1334-42), constructed on the orders of Bénédict
XII, and the extravagant Gothic ‘New Palace’ (1342-52),
of Clément VI. It is a frowning mass of elaborate architecture,
covering some 15,000 sq metres (166,660 sq feet) and reducing
Avignon’s other buildings to toy-town proportions.
The exterior is chilling and a little unfriendly, with a crenellated
façade and slit windows. In contrast, the interiors are
rich with the frescoes of Italian artist Matteo Giovannetti
and Sienese artist Giovanni Luca, survivors of
the fire that burned away many paintings and much finery in 1413.
It is worth taking the audiocassette that is included in the admission
price, to make sense of the maze of rooms within the palace. Among
the most beautiful is the Pope’s Bedchamber. The walls are
awhirl with frescoes of birds and grapevines and the floor is
covered with reproductions of the 14th-century tiles discovered
beneath the nearby study of Bénédict XII, in 1963.
Religious themes dominate the frescoes in the Chapelle St Martial
and Pope’s Antechamber, while hunting scenes decorate the
Stag Room. The Grand Tinel is where the pope’s banquets
were held, with the pope seated on a raised platform. Gold plates
and ivory cutlery were used to devour mountains of food, detailed
inventories record the consumption of 118 cows, 1,023 sheep, 60
pigs, 1,195 geese, 7,428 chickens … a total of 95,000 dishes
all at one sitting.
A guided tour (in French only) through the ‘Secret Palace’,
with a chance to see Saint Michel Chapel and rooms that are normally
closed to the public, with a convivial supper is available daily
from 1700 from November to May. It is best for visitors to make
a trip to the Palais des Papes in the afternoon, when it is cooler
and there are fewer tourists.
Place du Palais
Telephone number: (04) 9027 5000 (reservations). Fax number: (04)
9027 5088.
E-mail: monument@palais-des-papes.com
Website: www.palais-des-papes.com
Transport: Bus to place de l’Horloge.
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1900 hrs (March-June and October), daily
0930-1745 hrs (November-February), daily 0900-2100 hrs (July –
during the Avignon Festival), daily 0900-2000 hrs (August-September).
Admission: €9.50; €11 (combined Palais des Papes and
Pont St Bénezet ticket); €24.50 (Secret Palace tour,
inclusive of meal),€31.50 (Secret Palace tour, Palais des
Papes and Pont St Bénezet combined ticket), concessions
available.
Musée du Petit Palais (Little
Palace Museum)
Situated on the northern end of place du Palais, the Little Palace
Museum was built for Cardinal Béranger Frédol between
1318 and 1320. Following extensive alterations, Pope Benoît
made it his episcopal headquarters. Today, its 19 rooms house
an impressive collection of frescoes, sculptures and Italian religious
paintings from the 13th to 16th centuries, including works by
Botticelli, Carpaccio and Giovanni di Paolo. The Angel of the
Annunciation, by Sano Di Pietro (1406-1481), is one of the most
beautiful paintings, the golden-haired angel has all the beauty
of a pre-Raphaelite woman.
Palais des Archevêques, place du Palais
Telephone number: (04) 9086 4458. Fax number: (04) 9082 1872.
Transport: Bus to place de l’Horloge, place du Pie or post
office.
Opening hours: Wednesday-Monday 0930-1300 hrs and 1400-1730 hrs
(October -May), Wednesday-Monday 1000-1300 hrs and 1400-1800 hrs
(June-September).
Admission: €6 (concessions available).
Pont St Bénezet (St Bénezet
Bridge)
‘Sur le pont d’Avignon on y danse, on y danse …’
– the melody of the 19th-century song still draws visitors
to the bridge that is formally known as the Pont St Bénezet,
after the shepherd whose heavenly vision and determination led
to the bridge being built. Spanning the 2 channels of the River
Rhône and the island in between (Ile de la Barthelasse),
the bridge was built between 1177 and January 1185. Originally
made of wood, it had to be continuously rebuilt, as it was the
only crossing, providing a link between the Mediterranean and
Lyon, an important trade hub in the Middle Ages. The river finally
won the day, washing away the bridge in the mid-1600s. Today,
only four of its original 22 arches and the tiny Chapelle St Nicholas
remain. This delicate Romanesque chapel, dedicated to St Nicholas,
patron saint of barge men, should not be missed. A small museum,
situated beneath the ticket office, offers images of the bridge
in former centuries.
Rue Ferruce
Telephone number: (04) 9027 5116 or 9085 6016. Fax number: (04)
9082 7402 or 9082 7402
E-mail: monument@palais-des-papes.com
Website: http://www.palais-des-papes.com/index.html
Transport: Bus to place de l’Horloge or porte de l’Oulle.
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1900 hrs (April-October), daily 0930-1730
hrs (November-March).
Admission: €3.50 (Pont Bénezet only), €11 (combined
Pont St Bénezet and Palais des Papes ticket), concessions
available.
Further Distractions
Rocher des Doms
Ramps from the Palais des Papes lead up past the Cathédrale
Notre-Dame des Doms to the Rocher des Doms, the site of Avignon’s
earliest settlement. The rocky area was landscaped into a pleasant
plateau with an artificial rock garden in the 18th century. Nineteenth-century
additions include a lake and the statues of prominent Provençal
figures, such as writer Félix Gras and artists Paul Saïn
and Paul Vaysan. Terraces were laid out in the 20th century, offering
views onto the River Rhône, Pont St Bénézet,
Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and the Alpilles.
Rocher des Doms, above place du Palais
Transport: Bus to place de l’Horloge.
Opening hours: Daily, sunrise to sunset.
Admission: Free.
Musée Louis Vouland (Louis Vouland
Museum)
Successful businessman and art collector Louis Vouland (1883-1973)
bequeathed his 19th-century mansion to the state. His home was
opened as a museum in 1982, offering a quirky collection of 17th
and 18th-century decorative arts. Highlights include faïence
(earthenware) from Vincennes and Sèvres, and tapestries
woven in Flanders, Aubusson and Gobelins. However, a dainty travel
tea set in Sèvres faïence, which belonged to the Comtesse
du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, steals the show.
17 rue Victor Hugo
Telephone number: (04) 9086 0379. Fax number: (04) 9085 1204.
E-mail: musee-vouland@avignon-et-provence.com
Website: www.vouland.com
Transport: Bus to rue de la République, post office or
porte de l’Oulle.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 1000-1200 hrs and 1400-1800 hrs,
Sunday 1400-1800 hrs (May-October) Tuesday-Sunday 1400-1800 hrs
(November-April).
Admission: €4 (concessions available).
Musée d'Art Contemporain (Contemporary
Art Museum)
The Collection Lambert en Avignon is housed in the Musée
d’Art Contemporain, is a unique ensemble of more than 350
contemporary artworks, which have been loaned by Yvon Lambert
to the city of Avignon for 20 years. The collection is a unique
testimony of the great art movements of our time, minimal art,
conceptual art, land art from the 1960s to 1970s; painting from
the 1980s with photography and video from the 1990s. The collection
contains a most coherent ensemble of works by leading artists,
including Cy Twombly, Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, Niele Toroni, Jean-Michel
Basquiat, Anselm Kiefer, Christian Boltansky, Nan Goldin or Douglas
Gordon. Two to three temporary exhibitions are presented each
year in conjunction with displays of artworks from the Collection
Lambert.
5 rue Violette
Telephone number: (04) 9016 5620. Fax number: (04) 9016 5621.
E-mail: collection.lambert@wanadoo.fr
Website: www.collectionlambert.com
Transport: Bus to Central Station, then a short walk.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Sunday 1100-1800 hrs (September-June),
Tuesday-Sunday 1100-1900 hrs (July-August).
Admission: €5.50 (concessions available).
Musee Calvet (Calvet Museum)
Housed in a splendid 18th-century mansion, the Musée Calvet
displays a varied collection of paintings and sculptures from
the 15th to the 20th century, ranging from the archaeological
to Beaux Arts.
16 rue Joseph Vernet
Telephone number: (04) 9086 3384. Fax number: (04) 9014 6245.
E-mail: musee-calvet@wanadoo.fr
Transport: Any bus to the city centre.
Opening hours: Wednesday-Sunday 1000-1300 hrs and 1400-1800 hrs.
Admission: €6. |
