Historic Cities · France

Avignon through the ages

Avignon is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune has a population of 92,188 (2023), with about 16,000 living in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval walls.

1350 · city of the popes

Avignon in 1350

City of the Popes

This is Avignon at the height of the papal court under Clement VI: the Palais des Papes rises in new white stone while cardinals and their retinues give the lanes a towered, princely air. You will cross the Rhône with traders and pilgrims on the Saint-Bénézet bridge, pass tight medieval walls, busy quays of wine and goods, money-changers' tables and the pale massed masonry of the papal palace under scaffolds.

Avignon's skyline is dominated by the pale blocks of the Palais des Papes and the squat bell-tower of Notre-Dame des Doms, set above a rocky terrace; red-liveried cardinals show as bright spears in narrow, ochre-roofed streets. Roofs are low terracotta masses, façades of limestone and stucco, and the Rhône runs muddy and swift beneath the arched Saint-Bénézet bridge. The city is compact inside thick crenellated walls, quays crowded with barges and barrels, and scaffolds and cranes mark ongoing grand building works.

The route: 16 streets, squares and views

View from Villeneuve → Pont Saint-Bénézet → Quays by the Bridge → Île de la Barthelasse → Porte de l'Oulle → Rue des Changeurs → Place du Marché → Rue des Teinturiers → Livrées des Cardinaux → Approach to the Palais → …

Step inside, 9 interiors

Bridge Chapel · Wine Merchants' Warehouse · Money-changers' Counting-House · Cardinal's Audience Chamber · Grand Tinel · Great Chapel · Cathedral Nave · Giovannetti's Chapel Workshop · Stag Room

Explore Avignon in 1350 →25 scenes · 375 Clan Coins

Planned from the Wikipedia record: Avignon Papacy.

From the archive

Avignon on paper: the old town as it was mapped.

A period plan or bird's-eye view of the old town, drawn between 1500 and 1850 — the streets this page's reconstructions walk. Public domain, with its source named.