Avignon: Palace of the Popes

In 1309 Pope Clement V moved to Avignon to escape the protests, riots, and violence after his election. The Palace was begun and added to by the 8 succeeding popes who lived there. It is the largest Gothic building of the middle ages and is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

After the popes returned to Rome, the building remained under papal control for the next 350 years, but it deteriorated. During the French Revolution, a lot of the palace was damaged. Napoleon used it for a barracks and more damage occurred. It was vacated in 1906 and was finally opened to tourists. It's been in the process of reconstruction ever since.

This place is huge! We could never get a picture that showed how big it was from any angle. So we took a couple of pictures of the model to get a better perspective. The next day as we left town we saw it from a distance.Les mer