The Palace of the Popes and the Bridge

Place du Palais

The broad square where the papal palace meets its cathedral, and where most visits to Avignon begin.

You're standing on the square that separates the palace from its cathedral. The palace fills the southern side, the cathedral stands to the north, and this open parvis between them was the public stage of the papal court. On a July evening the square still fills with people streaming toward the palace courtyard for the festival, much as processions once did. Look up at the palace wall before you.

It is a fortress face, plain and enormous, built to be read from the far bank of the Rhône. The popes who raised it wanted anyone crossing the river to see power before they saw a church. When you're ready, walk toward the main entrance under the battlements.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms

A Romanesque church from the 12th century, older than the palace beside it, crowned since 1859 by a gilded statue of the Virgin.

Step back into the daylight and look up. This cathedral is older than the palace beside it, a Romanesque church that was standing here in the 12th century. The gilded figure on the spire is the Virgin, added in 1859 and regilded in 2000, and she weighs 4.5 tonnes. From the river she is the first thing you see on the skyline. The building gained side chapels in the 14th century while the popes were raising their palace next door, and it became a minor basilica in 1854. The door stays open as a working church, so step inside and let your eyes adjust after the bright square.