Papal Paradise…: Avignon Part 1 [23×28]
it’s November 2023 and I’ve headed for
south of France to a w City that for
over 70 years was home to seven
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popes
humans have been living on the banks of
river R since the Neolithic period at a
point just 55 miles from its mouth into
the Mediterranean Sea its broad width
has formed a natural boundary separating
first tribes then kingdoms for
Millennia a city called aong is cited in
the 6th Century bcee with a name meaning
either city of violent winds possibly in
reference to the me winds that blow
through these parts or more likely lord
of the river
a Greek Trading Post was founded around
539 B.C and in the following Century
trading agreements and treaties of
Alliance was signed with the mots the
city which went on to become modernday
Mars fortified on a high Rock
overlooking the rone river for RO the
the city became the capital of the cavar
GIC tribe up until the tribe became
Roman around 120
bcee 140 years later Emperor hen when he
wasn’t building walls at the northern
extremity of his Empire visited the
region and gave the city the status of a
Roman Colony Colonia Julia hadriana a
venis 150 years after that the first
attempt to bridge the river was made
with a wooden
construction it’s unknown exactly when
Christianity came to the city though
there is evidence for a small community
outside the walls around the same time
as that first Bridge however it had
arrived in full force by the 29th of
November 439 when the First bishop of
Aenon participated in a Regional
Council the history of the city over the
next couple of hundred years is a listy
of invasion sacking destruction
rebuilding and repetition a bridge
regularly being destroyed and
rebuilt in 1032 Conrad II inherited the
kingdom of burgundy and with that avenon
was attached to the Holy Roman Empire
Theon was now a border between the lands
of the Holy Roman Empire and those of
the king of
France in 1309 the city took on a much
more important role as Pope Clement V
5th decided to move his residence from
Rome to Aenon and started a near 70-year
period of the Pope’s ruling from the
city attrition between the Holy Roman
Empire and the King of France continued
for centuries until eventually in 1536
King Francis the first invaded the papal
territory in order to overthrow Emperor
Charles i f when France has entered the
city of Aenon the population received
him well and in return for their
reception the king granted the same
privileges that French subjects
enjoyed less than a century later the
city was considered an integral and
important part of the French Kingdom
though it didn’t stop a number of sieges
and annexations and it wasn’t until the
30th of May 1814 that the French
annexation of Aenon was finally
recognized by the
Pope during the early 20th century the
city began to rapidly expand Beyond The
Old City walls and out into the wider
Countryside in places ass Ed by just
punching random holes in the 14th
century walls
themselves today Aenon is the 35th
largest metropolitan area in France and
for the first decade of the 21st century
was the fastest growing urban area in
the
country at the center of the old town is
the plastu pet which is overlooked by
The Towering edifices of the pet paps
more resembling a fortress than the
palace the Cathedral Church of nraam and
above them the high mountain of radom
where that City first
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started
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today the top of a rock is occupied by
the landscape Jardin deom from where you
can look across the river ran that used
to act as an international border and
see the imposing bulk of the fort s in
the town of V built by the king of
France at the same time as the Popes are
in Residence
and slightly further Downstream the
Tower built by Philip theair both for
the same purpose of showing the popes
the might of their
Kingdom below The Gardens of The
Terraces merge into the city walls and
at The River’s Edge the final remaining
arches of a pondaven
the gardens also provide an excellent
Viewpoint across and down onto the
Cathedral of nraam Deon
Davon
on what was once the founding site of
the city today there are Pleasant
Parklands including a
grotto and from the wide Terraces views
back towards papal
Palace along the river
ran
and in the distance the unmistakable
peak of Monon a key climb in many
closing stages of the T
defas with an alarmingly mild Autumn and
the delayed onset of winter even in late
November the trees lining the river was
still in their autumn colors though the
N are blowing through many of the leaves
would be gone within a few few
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days
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further around on the rge and you can
follow the river Downstream as it passes
through the city on its way towards the
Mediterranean with a par remains of a
Pon San benazet better known as a Pon
Damon and attached to them the city
walls far below the p of The
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Rock
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C sits at the bottom of the slope coming
down from the r despite being next door
to the Palace that the popes resided in
for nearly 70 years the cathedral was
built for the seat of the Archbishop of
Aenon with construction starting in the
second half of the 12th century but
wasn’t completed until 1425 not helped
by the original Bell Tower collapsing in
1405 the church was abandoned and
allowed to deteriorate During the
Revolution but it was reconsecrated in
1822 listed as un monument histo in 1840
and in 1859 its most prominent feature
the Gilded statue of a Virgin Mary was
added to the top of the bell
tower in 1995 the cathedral along with a
neighboring Palace and the other
historic buildings in the city were
added to the UNESCO world heritage list
because their outstanding architecture
and importance during the 14th and 15th
centuries upgrading two categories from
an Archbishop you reach Pope and next
door to the seat of the Archbishop of
Aenon is the former seat of the popes
seven full popes and two anti-popes from
1309 until 1376 for regular and 1403 for
the
anti the pet deps one of the largest and
most important medieval Gothic buildings
in Europe is in fact two palaces merged
together nobody ever accused a medieval
Catholic church of living
piously the Palace of Benedict the 12
the pet view which sits on the Rashad
deom and the palet ner or new and
significantly more extravagant Palace of
Clement the six sits in front and
accounts for a main facade looking out
onto the
square construction on the original
Bishop’s Palace began in 1252 in 1305
gascon beran de go was elected to become
Pope Clement v f unwilling to face
violent clashes that were taking place
of the time in Rome he decided to move
the papal curia to Avenel
during his Reign he lived as a guest in
the Dominican Monastery as did his
successor Pope John the 22nd Benedict
the 12th followed and he began the
Reconstruction of the old Bishop’s
Palace effectively demolishing and
rebuilding it to convert into a Papal
Palace
Benedict died in 1342 and was succeeded
by Clement v 6 who immediately set about
expanding on Benedict’s original palace
with additional Works carried out under
innocent the sixth and urban the fifth
who followed these included a grand
Chapel towers and bridges with the main
Courtyard known as the court of honor
being completed by
Urban
inside richly decorated rooms many of
intricate frescos carved wood ceilings
and large Windows helped to show how for
the 70 years the popes were here most of
the income of the Catholic Church went
to its construction by the time
construction was eventually completed
the building occupied an area of 11,000
square meters nearly 120,000 Square
ft
on the Upper Floor of the old Palace is
the grand tinel one of the largest rooms
in the complex and originally richly
decorated with tapestries with ceilings
painted blue with stars this was the
room that during conclaves the Cardinals
would meet in to elect a new
pope Gardens had existed in the air of
the old Bishop’s Palace at the time of
John the 22nd and along with the land
and building Acquisitions these helped
to form a pontifical
garden the sty and layout of the gardens
changed a number of times both during
the Pope’s Reigns and following their
departure from Aenon and subsequent uses
of the
building between 2017 and 2020 the
gardens were red developed and based on
archaeological studies carried out in
2014 returned to how they would have
looked at various times in the history
of the papal
occupancy these include the Griffin
Garden named for the Griffin Fountain
which would have been the Pope’s private
garden and then the general Palace
Gardens
the general Gardens are placed below the
kitchens providing supplies to feed the
papal
household most of the rooms in the new
Palace are still richly decorated in
their original fres goes and
consequently filming and photography is
prohibited in them so after taking in
the grand tinel parent chamber and the
private rooms for popes you eventually
emerge into the northern
Sacristy and from there through into the
grand Chapelle dedicated to Apostles
Peter and Paul at 52 M long 15 M wide
and 20 M high is about as close to
Cathedral as you can squeeze into a
palace
from the grand Chappelle an equally
Monumental staircase known as the
staircase of Honor takes you down to the
court of
honor and by a few more steps down into
the great audience Hall almost the same
size as the chapel above allbe with only
an 11 M high
ceiling Pope Urban the fth returned to
Rome for 3 years from 1367 to 137 before
returning to Aenon shortly before his
death in December 1370 the final Aenon
Pope Gregory V 11th left avenon to
return to Rome on the 13th of September
1376 but that wasn’t quite the end as a
Schism not another one opened up in the
church between those wanting the church
to return to Rome and those wanting it
to stay in
avenon following the death of Gregory VI
11th in 1376 whilst Rome elected Urban V
6th the new pontiff a challenger Pope
Clemens the 7th took up residence in
Aenon reigning as pope from 1378 to 1394
when he was succeeded by Benedict the
13th whilst Benedict reigned until 1423
he was expelled from aenor in 1403 and
both him and Clement were declared
legitimate anti-popes by the
church the buildings remained under the
control of the popes along with the city
for over 350 years after their departure
but the building slowly deteriorated
despite a restoration in
1516 in 1789 the building already in a
poor condition was seized and then
sacked by revolutionary forces taken
over by Napoleonic French State as
barracks and prison it was only vacated
in 1906 when it became a museum and a
restoration that still goes on until
today nearly 120 years later
started restoration to its original
structure is something that will never
be an option for the pond Avon perhaps
the most famous landmark of the city
this cutof bridge strides out
majestically from the walls of the city
across the Waters of their own before
coming to a sudden halt after just four
archers and one of those spans the road
below officially known as the ponan
benette the first incarnation of a
bridge was built in Wood between 1177
and 1185 live but was destroyed barely
40 years later during the 1226 Siege of
Aenon work on reconstructing the bridge
in stone commenced in
1234 originally with 22 arches 21 piers
and a length of around 900 M it followed
a curved path across a river linking the
walls of Aenon with the gates of VES
Aenon taking advantage of the position
of small islands in the river which had
existed at the time in the century since
the flow ofone has shifted across its
flood plane changing for position and
size of
islands the archers in the bridge were
prone to collapse during the regular
flooding of a river and were often
replaced with temporary wooden
structures to link the sections of the
bridge together however during the 17th
century the structure fell further into
disrepair by 1644 four archers were
already missing and flooding 25 years
later Swept Away more of a structure
since then further collapses and
organized demolitions have removed all
bar the first four arches on the Aven on
side of the
river the name of a bridge comes from an
uneducated Shepherd benette who was born
around 116 5 and claimed that in a
vision he’d been commanded by Jesus to
build a bridge at a point on the rone
where the forces of the river were so
great that it discouraged even Roman
engineers in Antiquity from building a
bridge at first skeptical the bishop of
avenon was eventually one round and
finally approved the project convinced
that the work was ordained by God
wealthy patrons formed the first bridge
building Brotherhood to fund for
construction which benaz said was
actively involved in right up until his
death sometime around 1184 following his
death he was buried in the chapel built
on one of the peers
Benz was canonized after his death and
as Saint benette is now naturally the
patron saint of both avenon and Bridge
Builders as well as
Bachelors following the rebuilding of a
bridge in stone a new Chapel the chapel
of St Nicholas was built on the second
per of the bridge build over two floors
which have now been divided into
separate buildings the lower Chapel
accessed via stairs down from the side
of a bridge with the upper Chapel
occupying much of a bridge base reducing
the width of already narrow bridge from
4.9 to 1.75
M with the bridge being abandoned the
relics of St benezette were transferred
to the hospital dupon within the city
walls in
1670 restoration work carried out in the
1870s including input from a familiar
name y Viet of carcasson wall and Loan
Cathedral Fame including advising on
General pairs to the city walls further
restoration of the 1980s removed later
editions and returned what’s left of the
bridge to how it would have looked in
its Heyday and granting access to both
the bridge and to takeing views of the
bridge from a small part of the city
walls what the channel tunnel is the
21st century the pond Aven was to the
Middle Ages forming a crossborder
transport link between aen in the Holy
Ren Empire and VES Aven in the Kingdom
of
France the Benedictine Abbey of s Andre
occupied a strategic position on Mont
anadon a 50 m High Rocky outr with steep
sides that until changes to the flow in
theone in the 1770s Rose directly from
the rivers Waters in clear line of site
of the city of avenon on the opposite
side of the
river originally founded at the end of
the 10th Century The Abbey possessed
extensive property over a wide area of
Southern France in 1290 Philip the four
instructed his Duke in the region to
negotiate an agreement with the Abbey to
cooperate in the defense of a right Bank
of a Rome signed in 1292 the treaty
specified that Philip leel Philip the
fair could build a fortress with a per
Garrison next to the Abbey and a castle
by the
river The Abbey removed itself from the
power of Rome but obtained protection
from the French King Against The
Unwanted detentions of the city of Avon
which wanted control over both banks of
the
river
by 1302 fortifications had been built at
the Western end of the ponan benazet
which lay less than a kilometer from The
Abbey and by the middle of the century
the fortifications on the top of the
mount had been built to enclose both the
Abbey and the Garrison creating for
santre a very visible sign of the king
of France clearly seen from the popes in
avenon busy constructing their own
fortified Palace in the
city
The Fortress was continually occupied
from its construction right up until the
French
Revolution from its commanding position
the fort offers a 360° view over River
the city and the surrounding Countryside
though for much for fort’s existence
that would have been Marshland in the
distance and on a fine day there clear
views across on Von
2 since the departure of the army
following for revolution many of the
buildings inside the Fortress have
either been demolished or fallen into
disrepair but the chapel of nraam De
belette is still standing and can be
looked
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around
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from the outside the fort is dominated
by the Twin Towers of the entrance gate
and slightly further along the ramparts
for tour deas or Tower of witches the
latter has a single room with a very
high ceiling which houses a small
exhibition on the graffiti that
prisoners and soldiers have carved into
the stones over the
centuries
a spiral staircase takes you up from
ground level to the top of a tower and
out onto restored ramp Parts running
between the Tor masks and the entrance
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Gateway
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from here through a good views back over
the inside the fort the town of V nerve
and out across the river to the city of
avenon the towers of the cathedral and
paper Palace clearly visible even on a
pretty gray and overcast
day
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the Twin Towers the entrance gate to
join together Inside by a building which
houses yet more examples of Ancient
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Graffiti
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as well as the original prison
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oven and down on the ground floor of the
towers were spaces with official offices
the court required the local area to
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have
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next time I take a journey from Avenue
on 13 M out out into the countryside but
nearly 2,000 years back in time as I
visit the tallest aqueduct ever built by
the Romans for stunning pugar and I also
visit the city it was built to serve
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n
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Heading to the South of France to visit a city that for nearly 70 years was home to Popes and is famous for it’s long collapsed bridge
Fort Saint-André (https://www.fort-saint-andre.fr)
Jardin des Doms
Jardins du Palais des Papes (https://palais-des-papes.com)
Notre Dame des Doms d’Avignon (https://www.metropole.diocese-avignon.fr)
Palais des Papes (https://palais-des-papes.com)
Pont Saint-Benezet [Pont d’Avignon] (https://avignon-pont.com)
Avignon Tourisme – http://avignon-tourisme.com
==========
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:32 Background
3:56 Place du Palais
4:43 Jardin des Doms
8:16 Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms d’Avignon
9:25 Palais des Papes
11:55 Palais des Papes: Grand Tinel
12:28 Palais des Papes: Jardins du Palais
14:10 Palais des Papes: Grande Chapelle
14:55 Palais des Papes: Great Audience
16:34 Pont d’Avignon
19:32 Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
19:45 Villeneuve-lès-Avignon: Fort Saint-André
26:41 In Part 2
27:10 Outro
==========
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