SKETCH PLAN OF AVIGNON.
1. Palace of the Popes: the small building opposite is the Consistoire de Musique; by the side of the palace is the church of Notre-Dame Des Doms, and by the side of the church, on the top of the hill, the beautiful promenade des Doms; whence a stair leads down to the Rhone, near 23, the old bridge Bénézet. Below the promenade is, 2, formerly an archbishop’s palace, now a seminary. Below the Pope’s Palace is B, the Place de l’Hotel de Ville, with the H. de Ville and theatre. The street C C, extending southward to the principal station, is called the R. de la Republique or Rue Petrarque, its original name. Just behind, 3, the Hotel de Ville is the church of St. Agricol, and a little farther S.W. is the Rue Calade, with, at 4, the Musée Calvet, and at 5, across the Rue de la Republique, the Musée Requien, a museum of natural history. Farther east is, 6, St. Joseph’s College, with all that remains of the Church of the Cordeliers, where Laura was buried. That large building at the east corner of the town, 7, is the Hotel-Dieu or hospital; the gate, O, beside it, is the Porte St. Lazare; while 8 indicates the road to the cemetery. A short way E. from the Place de l’Hotel de Ville is, 9, the church of St. Pierre. No. 10, not far from the station, is the Penitentiary, formerly the Convent of the Celestins, founded by Clement VII. in 1879; entrance from the Place du Corps-Saint. No. 13, Convent du St. Sacrement. 14. Chapel Bénézet on bridge. 15. St. Symphorien. 16. Sacré-Cœur. 17. Prison. 18. Mont-de-Piété. 19. Court-house. 20. Lyceum. 21. Prefecture. 22. Suspension Bridge. 23. Bénézet Bridge. A, Place du Palais. B, Place de l’Hôtel de Ville. C, Rue de la République. D, Rue Calade. F, Place du Corps Saint. G, Rue des Lices. H, Place Pie. J, Vieux Septier. K, Rue du Saule. L, Rue Carréterie. M, Porte du Rhône. N, Porte de la Ligne. O, Porte St. Lazarus. Q, Porte L’Imbert. R, Porte St. Michael. S, Porte St. Roche. T, Porte de l’Oulle.
PARIS
MARSEILLES 461 76 AVIGNON, pop. 39,000, surrounded with strong embrasured walls, garnished with 39 towers, and pierced with 9 gates, is situated on the Rhône, 2 m. above its junction with the Durance, and 20 m. N.E. from Nîmes by the railway passing the Pont d’Avignon and Remoulins. Hotels: *Europe, near the Pont; *Luxembourg; Louvre; St. Yves, in the centre of the town, near the Place Pie, the great market-place. Temple Protestant in the R. Dorée, near the Préfecture. Cabstands at station and in the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, 2 frs. per hour. From the station, a beautiful avenue, the Cours de la République, leads up to the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville, with statue “au brave Crillon,” the friend of Henri IV., “Louis des Balbes-Berton duc de Crillon et Lieutenant-colonel de l’infanterie française,” died at Avignon in 1615. To the right is the road leading up to the *Palace of the Popes, the church of *N. D. des Domes, and the promenade, *“au Rochers des Doms;” which, with the ramparts, compose the principal sights of Avignon. The concierge of the palace lives just within the entrance. Fee for party, 1 fr. Opposite gate is the Conservatoire de Musique, built in 1610 for a mint. The churches are closed between 12 and 2. The Musées are open to the public on Sundays between 12 and 4.
Avignon Palace.
The present [Palace], commenced by Benedict XII. in 1336, and finished by Gregory XI. in 1370, is an ugly huge structure, consisting of plain walls 100 ft. high and 14 thick, strengthened by long ungainly buttresses. Above the entrance, composed of a low archway, are the arms of Clement VI.; and higher up, on two oriel turrets, the balcony from which the Popes blessed the people. Within the gate is the Cour d’Honneur, a vast quadrangular space between flat walls, pierced by from 3 to 4 stories of windows, not on the same level nor of the same size. From the court ascend the Escalier d’Honneur, a groined staircase, of which the steps were formerly of marble, to the Salle Consistoriale d’Hiver, with an elegantly-groined roof. Before this hall was divided into two, it was 52 ft. high, 65½ wide, and 170 long. From it we enter the Salle d’Armes, with mural paintings by Simone Memmi of Sienna. Ascending higher the grand staircase, we pass on the left the small window for the Spies, and then go along a narrow lobby tunnelled in the wall, to a succession of large bare halls, the Galerie de Conclave, the Salle des Gardes, the Salle de Reception, and then enter the Tour St. Jean, containing the Chapelle du Saint-Office,
or the chapel of the Inquisition, with mural paintings. In the story immediately below is the chapel of the Popes. From the Tour St. Jean, after passing through a large hall, we enter an octagonal room, gradually narrowing towards the centre, till it forms a chimney-tower, called the Tour Strapade. Some say this was the torture room; but it is evidently more suited for a kitchen, which in all probability it was. Adjoining is the Glacière, into whose underground cellars, now built up, the democrats of 1791 flung the bodies of 60 men and women they had murdered. From this we enter again the Place d’Honneur by the Tour Trouillas, in which Rienzi was imprisoned five years, bound to a chain fixed to the roof of his cell. During the time of the Popes, from 1305 to 1234, and till 1793, the half of Avignon was occupied by ecclesiastical edifices, which tolled daily 300 bells, and had among them a daily succession of religious processions.
Avignon: Rocher des Doms. Cathedral.