The city that ruled Christendom for 68 years — where seven popes built the largest Gothic palace in the world on the banks of the Rhône, the famous bridge only ever crossed half the river, and the summer festival turns the entire UNESCO-walled city into the world's biggest stage
Avignon (90,000; metro 370,000) is a walled medieval city on the Rhône in Provence, best known as the seat of the Papacy from 1309–1377 when seven French popes resided in the Palais des Papes — the largest Gothic palace in the world. The entirely preserved medieval ramparts (4.3km, 14th century) encircle the old town; the Pont Saint-Bénézet ('Pont d'Avignon', 1177–1185) extends half-way across the Rhône, its four surviving arches having outlasted the other eighteen. The Avignon Festival (July) transforms the entire city into a performance space with 1,500+ shows over three weeks — the world's…
Avignon was a Roman colony (Avenio) before passing to the Kingdom of Arles and later the County of Provence. Pope Clement V, a Gascon elected under French pressure, moved the papal curia from Rome to Avignon in 1309, citing Roman political violence — beginning the 68-year Avignon Papacy that contemporaries including Petrarch called the 'Babylonian Captivity of the Church'. Seven popes built and expanded the Palais des Papes; by the 1360s Avignon was the most populated city in Europe west of Constantinople. Gregory XI returned the papacy to Rome in 1377, but the Avignon claimants (the 'antipop…