Palace of the Popes – Avignon France – ECTV
Hey everybody, this is Eric Clark’s Travel Videos and I’m here at the Pope’s Palace in Avenue, France. And I always do that wrong. So, let me try this again. Hi everybody, this is Eric Clark or Hey everybody, this is Eric Clark’s Travel Videos and I’m in Avenue in France and I’m at the Pope’s Palace. See, that’s the way it’s supposed to go. Every single one of my videos for 3,000 videos have been done that exact same way. Anyway, that’s it. Let’s go take a look at the Pope’s Palace and we’ll see what we can find together. Let’s do it. Let me show you the outside first. So that’s the Notradam Avenue, but this from this tower over is the Pope’s Palace and it is stupendous and huge. I mean, you can look at the people coming out that door. I mean, they’re they’re tiny compared to how big that wall is. It is huge and stupendous and amazing and incredible. Certainly a wow. Wow. And the sun is perfect. The sky is perfect. The weather’s perfect. I couldn’t ask for better. All right. Well, let’s uh let’s go see about a ticket. And next we’ll do the notraam with the the lady on top. Whoever the lady is, it’s probably a Mary Jehoshaphat or somebody. I don’t know. Pretty amazing. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. It really is spectacular. Wow. All right, let’s get a ticket. All right, everybody. So, this is the Pope’s Palace, and they have a thing where you can do the garden, too. But I’m not interested in the garden, too. Um, I guess it’s this way. Let me get my ticket checked. All right. So, you got to get scanned again. You buy the ticket somewhere, and then you got to get scanned again, and then you come inside. Oh, so I have pictures of this very thing. Now, it’s interesting that it’s like uh it’s like they’re building stadium seats for this stage here, but I remember when this was all wide open area. Um, and so they’re building a like a concert hall or something. Oh, I bet it would sound amazing, though. Look at that. That’s incredible. Wow. You know, I don’t know if it’s good to build the seats or not. I don’t know. You know, you lose almost part of the aesthetics of the church, but I guess if you if you’re making money, huh? Wow. And the walls are enormous. So, look at these people down here. Look how small they are. And then look how tall that wall is. I bet it’s 10 floors. Yeah, I bet it is. And they’re mounting lights up there and everything else. So pretty crazy. And look at all the chairs they’re putting here. And it looks like they’re setting it up so that they collapse and then into something like this. You know what I mean? But it’s still you lose man all of the the inner courtyard. Wow. Yeah. And I think they give you one hour to go through it all. So I don’t know. I don’t know how all that works, but excuse me. I was just talking to him. No, you’re fine. Pardon me. Thank you. No worries. You know, if you only have an hour, I don’t know how they time your tickets, but Wow, that’s pretty amazing. Wow. Wow. Wow. Look at that. Yeah, the tower is amazing. Huh? Visit on start. Start on the visit. You can’t come back if you pass it. I think if I understand what she’s saying cuz that guy wants to come back through, but I don’t think they’re going to let him. Wow. Amazing. And here’s what the Pope’s palace looks like. Wow. It’s neat to see it from this point of view. It’s small enough that you can understand it. Wow. Pretty amazing. St. John’s Chapel. Hit pause if you want to read that. So I think this is Oh, this is a chapel. Now, this is unique. I have to show you the floor. I know I’m pointing at the ceiling. Look at all the pretty amazing. And I don’t know what this represents, but it looks like blue glass with yellow Wow. Pretty amazing. Now I got to go backwards. So this is Chapel St. Jin. The tomb of love set into the ordinary the oratory floor. A mansized opening inside the artwork draws the eyes of okay. That’s pretty amazing. Wow. Okay. Hit pause if you want to read that. It looks like they gave everybody tablets to take pictures and stuff, but uh and they’re just trying to teach them now. Like she’s trying to use her tablet. That lady’s trying to use her tablet. Everybody I’ve ran into now is trying to trying to work their tablet. Here’s another one. Oh, maybe they’re sound things. Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know. So, this must have been the first revision. Palace of Benedict. Huh. And then the addition is the top part up there, the orange part. And then this wing over here. Amazing, huh? And then here’s this stuff. And then the next revision it looks like is this one here and that one over there behind the support wall here. Huh? And then the entrance. And I don’t know which way to go. There’s this way. Uh I don’t know where that goes. And then I guess you go this way. There’s a door over here and a door over here. Let’s go look over here. Oh, this is the foundation of the church. Even glass. Wow, look at that. You know, I think Walmart had a deal on um on those little stones, those little colored bricks or whatever. I had a bunch of silver and a bunch of black and a bunch of blue and yellow. Look on the wall there. Wow. You’re fine. Go ahead. No, no, no worries. Okay. And the wardrobe of the times. Huh? Well, I think you go down here cuz that’s the only way to go. And you know the stairs are so tiny my feet don’t fit on them. That lady’s trying to go backwards. The interesting isn’t that it’s this. It’s the shadow of the thing hanging there. Huh. And I think if you zoom out enough. Wow. So you can see them both together now. It’s pretty incredible. There’s lots of chambers below us that are covered with glass. Huh? Oh, and look. See how they do this? So, there’s a ridge. It’s amazing how they built this. Makes you wonder what’s underneath us. See, it goes all the way over here and they sit on these things. That’s pretty incredible. Does it go all the way across? Oh, it certainly does. It goes way down there. Wow. Pretty amazing. Look at that over there. You can see everybody looks at it. It’s pretty amazing. Wow. It’s interesting that they put art in here with this. I’ll be right back. All right, everybody. So, we’re out of there and now we’re going to the suite. And I think this is where the Pope lives or whatever. I got to be careful. I’m walking upstairs. I’m watching my camera and not uh paying much attention to what I’m doing here. But it’s pretty amazing. And it’s just the walls and building this structure. That’s the incredible part to me. And all this art I found out is that it’s the 25th year of UNESCO or something. And so you can see all the people up here too. So I guess that’s where I’m headed. So um that’s this. Okay. The stairs are fairly uh steep. Again, if you’re mobility challenged, be careful. Pretty amazing, huh? There’s certainly a lot of great shots. Like this one here is pretty amazing, huh? So, this is the chambers and stuff or we’re working to the chambers, but I don’t know why you can’t get there that way, but Huh. Very cool. It’s a big room. Huge room. Like a football field. What are they? They’re not us. Or would they be a resin of some sort? Imagine that glass. Oh my gosh, look at this room. They’re really going full out on this uh thing here. Good job. I guess uh working on selfies. You know, putting this art in here really distracts from the beauty of the room and what the room was all about to begin with. Huh. Interesting. Don’t let The king’s chair. The Pope’s chair. Little doors, little stairs. Excuse me. Thank you. More weird art. Sticks and stones will break my bones. Little balls excite me. What the hell? The ceiling’s kind of amazing. Wow, look at the fufu art in here. Wow, that’s pretty amazing though. Wow. If you look straight up, Bless you. I think this is the exit. Sorry, but I think I want to go the other way. Heat. Heat. kids enjoying the Pope’s Palace. Guess I need to go this way. What’s this way? Oh my gosh. I think there’s a sign here. Let me see what it says about this. Oh, it’s to climb the tower. This tower. All right. Crap. And they’ve got a sign for Eric. Bring your parachute just in case. Where does this go? Step. More steps, more towers. Wow. And that’s the tower. I guess I’ll go look high spot on the Pope’s Palace. And there’s the bridge. Oh, what’s that castle way over there? Okay, I think I got something else to go see. Wow. That palace over there looks pretty darn amazing. Pretty real darn amazing, huh? Very cool. Don’t you love the pocket? Yeah, I do too. I know. Threes are bigger though. The two is small. Yeah, it’s nice. Incredible. Here, I’ll get out of your way. How’s that? There you go. You’re welcome. Okay, everybody. Let me get back down. Bye. Okay, I work my way down back to where I left off here. And I think this is really about to end. It’s a pretty amazing picture there, though, huh? But you never know what’s around a corner, huh? Besides more stairs. Okay, a lot more stairs. Oh, this is the exit. Okay, that’s it for me, everybody. Thanks for coming with me. It’s been fun running you through the Pope’s Palace in Avenue, France. I hope you enjoyed the video. to all the people that watch, all six of you.
The Palais des Papes (English: Palace of the Popes; lo Palais dei Papas in Occitan) in Avignon, Southern France, is one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe.[1] Once a fortress and palace, the papal residence was a seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century. Six papal conclaves were held in the Palais, leading to the elections of Benedict XII in 1334, Clement VI in 1342, Innocent VI in 1352, Urban V in 1362, Gregory XI in 1370 and Benedict XIII in 1394. In 1995, the Palais des Papes was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its outstanding architecture and historical importance for the papacy.[2]
Description
The Palais is actually two joined buildings: the old palais of Benedict XII, which sits on the impregnable rock of Doms, and the new palais of Clement VI, the most extravagant of the Avignon popes. Together they form the largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages. It is also one of the best examples of the International Gothic architectural style. The construction design was the work of two of France’s best architects, Pierre Peysson and Jean de Louvres, and the lavish ornamentation was the work of two of the best students of the School of Siena (Italy), Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti.
In addition, the papal library housed in the Palais (the largest in Europe at the time with over 2,000 volumes), attracted a group of clerics passionate in the study of “belles-lettres”, amongst them the founder of humanism, Petrarch. At the same time, composers, singers and musicians were drawn to the Great Chapel of the Palais. It was there that Clement VI used the Mass of Notre-Dame of Guillaume de Machaut, there that Philippe de Vitry at the pope’s invitation presented his Ars Nova, and there that Johannes Ciconia came to study.
Due to its immense size, the Palais was also the place where the general organisation of the Church began to change. It facilitated the centralisation of services and the adaptation of operations in order to suit the needs of the papacy, creating a truly central administration for the Church.[3] The manpower of the Curia (Church administration), while 200 at the end of the 13th century, surpassed 300 at the beginning of the 14th century and reached 500 people in 1316. To this were added over 1,000 lay officials working within the Palais.[4]
Despite this, the Palais became obsolete when the papacy found it necessary to return to Rome. The hope of reuniting Latin and Orthodox Christians, along with the achievement of peace in the Papal States in Italy, made the case for returning stronger. Added to that was the strong conviction of both Urban V and Gregory XI that the seat of the papacy could only be the tomb of St Peter. Despite strong opposition from the Court of France and the College of Cardinals, both popes found the means to return to Rome, the first, on 30 April 1362, the second on 13 September 1370. This time, the return was absolute.[4]
In the following centuries, the Palais lost all of its former glory, despite serving as the seat of two anti-popes and many cardinals. It retained, however, a “work of destruction” aspect that French poets and writers such as Charles Forbes René de Montalembert have referred to over the centuries, with its powerful sense of beauty, simplicity, grandeur and immortality.[5]
My name is Eric Clark and I am a world traveler. I have been around the world a few times and decided to help fund my travels by sharing my videos and pictures. I have been to almost every country and would be glad to give tips and pointers. Drop me a note. = )