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Key Attractions

Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes)
This palace-fortress looms above Avignon. 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 thirty 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 ft) and reducing Avignon's other buildings to toy-town proportions. It is best to visit the Palais des Papes in the afternoon, when it is cooler and there are fewer tourists.

The exterior is chilling and unfriendly, with a crenellated façade and slit windows. In contrast, the interiors are rich with the frescoes of Italian artist Matteo Giovannetti and Sienese Giovanni Luca, survivors of the fire that burned away many paintings and much finery in 1413. It is worth taking the audio-cassette (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, while the floor is covered with reproductions of the fourteenth-century tiles discovered in 1963 beneath the nearby study of BÉnÉdict XII. 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, 1023 sheep, 60 pigs, 1195 geese, 7428 chickens ... a total of 95,000 dishes - and all at one sitting.

place du Palais
Tel: (04) 90 27 50 73/74. Fax: (04) 90 86 36 12.
E-mail: rmg@palais-des-papes.com
Web site: www.palais-des-papes.com
Transport: Bus to poste.
Opening hours: Daily Apr-Oct 0900-1900; Nov-Mar 0930-1745.
Admission: FFr45.

MusÉe du Petit Palais

Located on the northern end of place du Palais, the Little Palace Museum was a bishop's and an archbishop's palace during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Today, its 19 rooms house an impressive collection of frescoes, sculptures and Italian religious paintings from the thirteenth to sixteenth 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
Tel: (04) 90 86 44 58. Fax: (04) 90 82 18 72.
Transport: Bus to place de l'Horloge, place du Pie or poste.
Opening hours: Wed-Mon Oct-May 0930-1300 and 1400-1730; Jun-Sep 1000-1300 and 1400-1800.
Admission: FFr30.

Pont St-BÉnÉzet

'Sur le pont d'Avignon on y danse, on y danse ...' - the melody of the nineteenth-century song still draws visitors to the famed bridge that is formally known as the Pont St-BÉnÉzet, after the shepherd BÉnÉzet whose heavenly vision and determination led to the bridge being built.

Spanning the two channels of the River Rhône and the island in between (Ile de la Barthelasse), the bridge was built between 1177 and January 1185. Originally 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 bargemen, should not be missed. The small MusÉe des Images (tel: (04) 90 82 56 96) offers pictures of the bridge in its former glory.

rue Ferrue
Tel: (04) 90 85 60 16. Fax: (04) 90 86 36 12.
E-mail: rmg@palais-des-papes.com
Transport: Bus to place de l'Horloge or porte de l'Oulle.
Opening hours: Daily Apr-Oct 0900-1900; Nov-Mar 0930-1730.
Admission: FFr19; plus FFr17 (St Nicholas Chapel).



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