Bonjour,

Pope Clement V moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309. Seven popes resided in Avignon from 1309 to 1377. It was also mentioned that two anti-popes resided in Avignon but I was unclear on how that worked, since the Papacy was at least theoretically moved back to Rome in 1377.

The Palace of the Popes was built between 1335 and 1364. It’s a Gothic building with some walls 17 to 18 feet thick. It’s an imposing fortress between the city wall and the palace itself. The town and the palace look much more like a warlord’s stronghold than a papal palace. The palace was built on a grand scale and was very luxurious and opulent. We visited the greeting room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, office, court room courtyard, and more. The pope’s who lived here were clearly not suffering.

The palace remained part of the Papacy until the French Revolution, when it reverted to France. It was later used as a military barracks, a prison, and today is a museum. It suffered from neglect for many years and is only recently being appreciated and had restorations begin, but it has a long way to go. Still, it was interesting place to visit.

1. This is but a tiny portion of the exterior of the pope’s palace. This is where we entered the palace. Again, you can see that it much more resembles a warlord’s stronghold.

2. This is an interior courtyard. I mostly include this to give a sense of scale to the palace, which is a huge place.

3. This is the dining hall. The scale of this dining room was enormous. The kitchen was next door and it was also fascinating to see. During the Pope's days, all the walls were painted (mostly red) and the ceiling was blue in this room.

4. This is the pope’s reception hall, where he would receive visitors. I don’t know how many visitors came at a time but this was another enormous room.

5. We only saw a couple of places, in darkened corners of rooms, where the paintings from the pope’s time here were still visible. I am including this just to give you an idea that the walls were not bare stone during the Pope's reign here.

Voila,

Bill