Until lately the palace was utilized for barracks, but fortunately the soldiers are now quartered elsewhere, and the restorers are peeling off plaster and taking down the ugly walls and partitions of recent times, thus bringing to light the original splendour of the Papal residence. A magnificently carved stone doorway of large dimensions has been literally dug out of a most unpromising wall, and when the work is completed the palace-fortress will be one of the most remarkable of the historic monuments of France. Fortunately, one of the smaller apartments, with richly painted walls and ceilings, was sufficiently remarkable to escape the destructive hands of those who built up the great doorway, and the chapels in the Tour St. Jean are also covered with wall paintings. The palace is built on a raised mass of rock, and some of the irregularities of design are due to this fact.
Just to the north, on the same rock, is the interesting Romanesque Cathedral of Notre Dame des Doms, first built in early Christian times on the site of a Roman temple. Of the 157 Cardinals and Bishops buried in the church there are no monuments, and even the elaborate tomb of Pope John XXII., at one time in the middle of the nave, has been placed in the antechamber leading to the sacristy. This John XXII., who held the Chair of St. Peter between 1316 and 1334, was the son of a shoemaker of Cahors. His genius seems to have lain chiefly in the acquisition of vast wealth, for when he died he had laid up treasure on earth
No. 20. AVIGNON TO VALENCE.
in his newly built castle to the extent of eighteen millions of gold florins in specie and seven millions in plate and jewels! Milman also describes him as harsh and relentless and a cruel persecutor, who betrayed joy not only at the discomfiture but at the slaughter of his enemies, and then goes on to speak of the fame of his piety and learning, and how he rose every night to pray and to study and every morning to attend Mass. One has to think of this cruel and callous Pope kneeling at night to thank God for his great wealth laid up for many years, for his success in overcoming his enemies, and perhaps for the general feeling of comfort and security given by the massive walls of his fortress. His successor, Benedict XII., pulled down John’s buildings and put up much of the present palace.
Beyond the cathedral is a public garden, sheltered from the sun and the fierce mistral by a close growth of trees and bushes. An outer walk commands a magnificent view over the Rhone, with the broken bridge of St. Bénézet throwing its four arches into the irresistible waters down below. It was during a republic which lasted from 1135 to 1251 that the bridge was built. It originally had nineteen arches, and above one of the piers was built a chapel to St. Nicholas. This interesting little structure still survives, and is illustrated in these pages.
A favourite nursery rhyme, known to anyone who has had a French nurse, is:
‘Sur le pont d’Avignon, l’on y danse, l’on y danse;
Sur le pont d’Avignon, l’on y danse tous en rond.’
The best of the churches is St. Pierre, to the south of the Papal palace. It has an elaborate façade, built in 1520, and richly carved doors. St. Didier is of the fourteenth century, and contains the grave of St. Bénézet under a slab in the centre of the nave. Near this church is the Hôtel Crillon, a fine example of the domestic architecture of the seventeenth century. St. Agricol dates from 1340.
The palace of the Archbishop of Avignon is a picturesque old building, dating from early in the fourteenth century. It is now a Petit Séminaire.