Palais des Papes

About

The Palace of the Popes of Avignon is the largest Gothic building in the Middle Ages. Both fortress and palace, during the fourteenth century the papal residence was the seat of Western Christendom. Six conclaves were held in the palace of Avignon which led to the election of Benedict XII in 1335; Clement VI in 1342; Innocent VI in 1352; Urbain V in 1362; Gregory XI in 1370; and Benedict XIII in 1394.

The palace, which is the interlocking of two buildings, the old palace of Benedict XII, a real fortress sitting on the impregnable rock of the Doms, and the new palace of Clement VI, the most lavish of the Pontiffs of Avignon, is not only the largest Gothic building but also the one in which the style of the international Gothic has been expressed in its fullness. It is the result, for its construction and ornamentation, of the joint work of the best French architects of the period, Pierre Poisson and Jean de Louvres, and of the greatest friquitists of the Sienese school, Simone Martini and Matteo Giovanetti. Moreover, the Pontifical Library of Avignon, the largest in Europe at the time with 2,000 volumes, crystallised around it a group...