Palais des papes of Sorgues

About

The Papal Palace of Sorgues is the first papal residence built by the papacy of Avignon in the 14th century. It was wanted by John XXII and its construction preceded by 18 years that of the Palace of the Popes of Avignon. This sumptuous home served as a model for the building of the Avignonese cardinalcies.

Today, only remains remain, the palace having been dismantled during the French Revolution by building contractors to whom the municipality of Sorgues had sold it. This site is still unknown, including by historians, since on the one hand it remains to compare the archives of Rome and Avignon, which alone can make it possible to refine the current knowledge of the building, its occupants, its visitors, its restorations and its destruction, on the other hand to initiate archaeological excavations, the current ruins (palais, orchard, annexes and medieval environment) being still buried under two to three meters of silt.