Avignon

 ( Communes Of Vaucluse ) 

In the part of the city within the walls the buildings are old but in most areas they have been restored or reconstructed (such as the post office and the Lycée Frédéric Mistral). The buildings along the main street, Rue de la République, date from the Second Empire (1852–70) with Haussmann façades and amenities around Place de l'Horloge (the central square), the neoclassical city hall, and the theatre district.

Listed below are the major sites of interest with those sites registered as historical monuments indicated:

• Notre Dame des Doms (12th century),Ministry of Culture, Mérimée the cathedral is a Romanesque building, mainly built during the 12th century; the most prominent feature of the cathedral is the 19th century gilded statue of the Virgin which surmounts the western tower. The mausoleum of Pope John XXII (1334), within the cathedral, is a noteworthy example of 14th-century Gothic carving.Ministry of Culture, Palissy
• italic=no ("Papal Palace") (14th century)Ministry of Culture, Mérimée almost dwarfs the cathedral. The palace is a monument and sits within a square of the same name. The palace was begun in 1316 by John XXII and continued by succeeding popes through the 14th century, until 1370 when it was finished.
• Minor churches of the town include three built in the Gothic architectural style:
• Church of Saint-Pierre (14th century)Ministry of Culture, Mérimée which has a graceful façade and richly carved doors;
• Church of Saint-Didier (14th century);Ministry of Culture, Mérimée and
• Church of Saint-Agricol (14th century).Ministry of Culture, Mérimée
• Other religious buildings:
• Church of Saint-Symphorien (14th century, former Carmelite monastery church).
• Church of Montfavet (14th century).
• Chapel of the Oratory.
• Chapel of the White penitents (16th century).
• Chapel of the Grey penitents (18th century).
• Chapel of the Black penitents.
• Synagogue (19th century).
• Civic buildings are represented most notably by:
• The Hôtel de Ville (city hall) (1846),Ministry of Culture, Mérimée a relatively modern building with a bell tower from the 14th century,
• The old Hôtel des Monnaies,Ministry of Culture, Mérimée the papal mint which was built in 1610 and became a music-school.
• Hospital Sainte-Marthe.
• Hotel of Saint-Priest (Hotel de Monery, 18th century).
• House of King René (15th century).
• The city walls,Ministry of Culture, Mérimée built by the popes in the 14th century and still encircle Avignon. They are one of the finest examples of medieval fortification in existence. The walls are of great strength and are surmounted by machicolated battlements flanked at intervals by 39 massive towers and pierced by several gateways, three of which date from the 14th century. The walls were restored under the direction of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
• Bridges include:
• The Pont Saint-Bénézet, better known as the Pont d'Avignon and for the French song Sur le pont d'Avignon. Only four of the twenty one piers are left and the bridge ends mid-channel. On one of the piers stands the small Romanesque chapel of Saint-Bénézet.
• The Pont Édouard Daladier and the Pont de Royaume, which together span both channels of the Rhone leading to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, thus replacing the Pont Saint-Bénézet
• The Pont de l'Europe, which provides a second road crossing over the Rhone.
• Two railway bridges over the Rhone, one carrying the conventional Paris–Marseille line and the other the LGV Méditerranée line
• Calvet Museum, so named after Esprit Calvet, a physician who in 1810 left his collections to the town. It has a large collection of paintings, metalwork and other objects. The library has over 140,000 volumes.
• The town has a Statue of Jean Althen, who migrated from Persia and in 1765 introduced the culture of the Rubia plant, which long formed the staple—and is still an important tool—of the local cloth trade in the area.
• Musée du Petit Palais (opened 1976) at the end of the square overlooked by the Palais des Papes, has an exceptional collection of Renaissance paintings of the Avignon school as well as from Italy, which reunites many "primitives" from the collection of Giampietro Campana.
• The Hotel d'Europe, one of the oldest hotels in France, in business since 1799.
• The Collection Lambert, houses contemporary art exhibitions
• The Musée Angladon exhibits the paintings of a private collector who created the museum
• Musée Lapidaire, with collections of archaeological and medieval sculptures from the Fondation Calvet in the old chapel of the Jesuit College.
• Musée Louis-Vouland
• Musée Requien
• Palais du RoureMinistry of Culture, Mérimée
• Les Halles is a large indoor market that offers fresh produce, meats, and fish along with a variety of other goods.
• The Place Pie is a small square near Place de l'Horloge where you can partake in an afternoon coffee on the outdoor terraces or enjoy a night on the town later in the evening as the square fills with young people.
• Note: the name of Pablo Picasso's 1907 painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon ( The Young Ladies of Avignon) is misleading; Picasso's models for this painting were in fact not women of the city of Avignon, but rather of the Carrer d'Avinyó (Avignon Street) in Barcelona.

The commune houses more than 500 historical objects, many of which are religious.

Avignon festival was founded by Jean Vilar. This cultural initiative brought, year after year, a major economic boost to the city and to the region of Provence. Indeed, the tourists visiting Avignon during the month of July usually take benefit of their presence to go to the smaller villages around, to discover the local food, local wines, touristic activities, learn some French.

The bridge of the song is the Pont Saint-Bénézet over the Rhône, of which only four arches (out of the initial 22) now remain. A bridge across the Rhone was built between 1171 and 1185, with a length of some , but was destroyed during the siege of Avignon by Louis VIII of France in 1226. It was rebuilt but suffered frequent collapses during floods and had to be continually repaired. Several arches were already missing (and spanned by wooden sections) before the remainder was abandoned in 1669.

AC Arles-Avignon was a professional association football team. They competed in Ligue 2, after the 2010–2011 season competing in Ligue 1 and being relegated back down the following season and ultimately folding in 2016. They played at the Parc des Sports, which has a capacity of just over 17,000.

In 1413 Pope John XXIII founded the university's department of theology, which for quite some time had only a few students. It was not until the 16th and 17th centuries that the school developed a department of medicine. The bishop of Avignon was chancellor of the university from 1303 to 1475. After 1475 the bishop became an archbishop but remained chancellor of the university. The papal vice-legate, generally a bishop, represented the civil power (in this case the pope) and was chiefly a judicial officer who ranked higher than the Primicerius (Rector).

The Primicerius was elected by the Doctors of Law. In 1503 the Doctors of Law had 4 Theologians and in 1784 two Doctors of Medicine added to their ranks. Since the Pope was the spiritual head and, after 1348, the temporal ruler of Avignon, he was able to have a great deal of influence in all university affairs. In 1413 John XXIII granted the university extensive special privileges, such as university jurisdiction and tax exemption. Political, geographical, and educational circumstances in the latter part of the university's existence caused it to seek favour from Paris rather than Rome for protection. During the chaos of the French Revolution the university started to gradually disappear and, in 1792, the university was abandoned and closed.

• Nicolas Dipre (-1532), early Renaissance art painter.
• Trophime Bigot (1579 in Arles – 1650 in Avignon), French painter of the Baroque era.
• Pierre Simon Jaillot (1631–1681), sculptor of ivory objects
• Pierre Parrocel (1664–1739), painter of the late-Baroque period.
• Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714–1789), a painter of night landscapes.
• Dorothea von Rodde-Schlözer (1770 in Göttingen – 1825 in Avignon), artist and scholar.
• Pierre Grivolas (1823–1906), painter of landscapes, portraits and genre scenes.
• Émile Beaussier (1874–1943), painter of maritime scenes and sunny landscapes.
• Albert Gleizes (1881–1953), artist, theoretician, philosopher, self-proclaimed founder of Cubism
• Yahel Chirinian (born 1970), Contemporary art sculptor and installation artist

• Justine Favart (1727–1772), an operatic singer, actress, playwright and dancer.
• Albert Guille (1854–1914), operatic tenor
• Marie Grisier-Montbazon (1859−1922), a French actress and singer.
• Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992), composer, organist, and ornithologist
• Jean-Claude Malgoire (1940–2018), oboist and later conductor.
• Mireille Mathieu (born 1946), singer
• Christophe Rousset (born 1961), harpsichordist and conductor of Baroque music
• Peste Noire (formed 2000), a black metal band

• Procopius Waldvogel (15th C.), a medieval printer and silversmith by trade.
• Alexis-Hubert Jaillot (1632–1712), geographer and Cartography
• Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636/1640–1710), fur trader and explorer
• Esprit Pézenas (1692–1776), Jesuit astronomer, hydrographer and mathematician
• Honoré Blanc (1736–1801), gunsmith, pioneered the use of interchangeable parts.
• Yves Delage (1854–1920), zoologist, worked on invertebrate physiology and anatomy.
• Christine Ourmières-Widener (born 1964), CEO of TAP Air Portugal.

• Pope Gregory XI (ca.1329 – 1378), the seventh and last Avignon pope.
• Francis Lambert (ca.1486 – 1530), a Protestant reformer.
• Georges d'Armagnac (ca.1501 – 1585), humanist, patron of arts, Cardinal and diplomat
• Alexandre de Rhodes (1591–1664), Jesuit missionary.
• Chevalier de Folard (1669–1752), soldier and military theorist, championed infantry columns
• Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon (1717–1796), Captain general of the Army.
• Étienne-Antoine Boulogne (1747–1825), cleric, Bishop of Troyes, 1809–1825.
• Pierre Louis Jean Casimir de Blacas (1771–1839), antiquarian, nobleman and diplomat
• Joseph Agricol Viala (1778–1793), child hero in the French Revolutionary Army, killed aged 15
• John Stuart Mill (1806 – 1873 in Avignon), an English philosopher, political economist and MP; he is buried in the local cemetery.
• Édouard Daladier (1884–1970), politician and 3 x pre-war Prime Minister of France
• Bernard Kouchner (born 1939), politician and doctor, co-founded Médecins Sans Frontières
• Edmond Alphandéry (born 1943), politician, public-sector company executive
• Muriel Casals i Couturier (1945–2016), a Catalan economist and academic

• Bertran Folcon d'Avignon (fl. 1202–1233), a Provençal nobleman, troubadour and poet
• Abraham Farissol (ca.1451 – ca.1525), a Jewish-Italian geographer, cosmographer, scribe and polemicist.
• Marianne-Agnès Falques (1720–1785), author of romance novels and other topical writing
• Armand de Pontmartin (1811–1890), journalist, critic and man of letters.
• Henri Bosco (1888–1976), writer, nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times.
• Pierre Boulle (1912–1994), author of the novels: The Bridge over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes
• René Girard (1923–2015), polymath, historian, literary critic and philosopher of social science
• Daniel Arsand (born 1950), writer and publisher
• Mazarine Pingeot (born 1974), writer, journalist and associate Professor of philosophy at the Paris 8 University and daughter of former French President François Mitterrand.
• Vincent Almendros (born 1978), writer, winner of the 2015 prix Françoise Sagan

• Philippe Gache (born 1962), racing driver
• Éric Di Meco (born 1963), former footballer with 342 club caps and 23 with France
• Jean Alesi (born 1964), professional racing driver for Formula 1 & DTM
• Teddy Richert (born 1974), goalkeeper coach and former goalkeeper with 464 club caps
• Jean-Christophe Ravier (born 1979), racing driver
• Cédric Carrasso (born 1981), former footballer with 379 club caps
• Philippe Toledo (born 1983), former footballer with 449 club caps
• Camille Ayglon (born 1985), retired handballer with 270 caps with France women and an Olympic team silver medallist
• Benoît Richaud (born 1988), figure skating choreographer and former competitive ice dancer.
• Benoît Paire (born 1989), tennis player, best singles ranking is World No. 18, in January 2016
• Younès Belhanda (born 1990), footballer with over 360 club caps and 58 for Morocco
• Tony Gigot (born 1990), rugby league footballer with 233 club caps and 19 for France
• Giuliano Alesi (born 1999), Super Formula driver
• Clément Novalak (born 2000), FIA Formula 2 driver
• Pierre-Louis Chovet (born 2002), racing driver

• Avenir Club Avignonnais, a French association football team
• Siege of Avignon (737)
• Councils of Avignon, councils of the Roman Catholic Church

• Charles Rostaing (1994). 9782734806769, Jeanne Laffitte. ISBN 9782734806769
• (2026). 9782858225552, Éditions du patrimoine. ISBN 9782858225552
• Daniel Vitaglione (2026). 9780786408436, McFarland. ISBN 9780786408436

• Avignon Tourisme website