Palais des Papes

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Palais des Papes in Avignon is the largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages. Both fortress and palace, the papal residence was the seat of Western Christendom during the 14th century. Six conclaves were held in the Avignon palace, resulting in the election of Benedict XII in 1335, Clement VI in 1342, Innocent VI in 1352, Urban V in 1362, Gregory XI in 1370 and Benedict XIII in 1394. The palace combines two interlocking buildings: the Old Palace of Benedict XII, a true fortress set on the Rocher des Doms, and the New Palace of Clement VI, the most lavish of the Avignon popes. It is not only the largest Gothic building but also the one in which the International Gothic style found its fullest expression. Its construction and decoration were the joint work of the finest French architects of the day, Pierre Poisson and Jean de Louvres, and of the greatest fresco painters of the Sienese school, Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti. In addition, the papal library of Avignon, the largest in Europe at the time with 2,000 volumes, drew around it a circle of clerics devoted to literature, from which Petrarch, the founder of humanism, would emerge. The Clementine Chapel, known as the Great Chapel, meanwhile attracted composers, cantors and musicians.