Palace of the popes at Avignon, France, 1364

Name: Xiaoyu Zeng

ARCH161 – M21 LEC(2587)

Palace of the popes at Avignon, France, 1364

Palace, castle, Cultural, Gothic

Architect(s): Jean de Louvres, Raymond Guitbaud, Pierre Obreri, Pierre Poisson

[Introduction]

Palace of the popes at Avignon is located in the town of Avignon ancient city at the south of France. Pope Benedict XII and Clement VI ordered the construction which is one of the most magnificent castle in the middle ages. It built from fifteenth Century until 1906. Since the Imperial Palace has repeatedly repaired, it is a rare treasure house of architecture and oil painting in Fourteenth Century.

Palace of the popes at Avignon is located in the Rhone River. It is a castle style building that was built in 1334 and it covered an area about 15 thousand square meters. There have been seven popes lived in here. The palace divided two parts which are the old temple and the new temple. The old house is normal and the style is Roman architectural. In the other sides, the new house is magnificent house that is a typical Gothic architecture.  

The Palace stands at the highest point of the ancient city, with a dominating attitude that watching this area. The inside of the building looks luxury building. The peripheral of castle is grand tower to defense, and with a large number of troops stationed. It has 10 towers around the palace.

During the French revolution, interior decoration was almost completely destroyed and looted. However, we still can image it from the beautiful Pope’s bedroom ceiling and conference.

[The house buildings]

1.    Chambre du Cerf

It is located in the second floor of Royal Palace, formerly Clement Las (Clement) study room. It is recognized as the most beautiful room in the whole palace. The elegant murals painted in 1343, however, now except for pond fishing and hunting season pattern, it just has a dog bite the deer’s leg. It means the complete picture about bucks disappeared any more. The animal pattern of the Bucks was a pioneering significance in the late Middle Ages, and it also became the popular object in the imperial court of Europe.  

2.    Chambre du Pape

When you enter the palace, you will be attracted from the ceiling to four walls even the tiles. It is full of the blue line and colorful murals painted decoration. You will feel humane with warm in here of the whole palace. France has a joke: it said that if the Pope insomnia can’t sleep, not counting sheep but counting birds to sleep.

3.    Chambre de parement

This room is the private room of Pope palace, because the soldiers had been stationed during nineteenth Century, that the extent of the damage is great.

4.    Chapelle du Consistoire

It is located on the first floor. Also, it is the same as the main room(Chambre du Cerf) which has the exquisite murals painting from Italian painter at the fourteenth Century. However, it was burned in the early fifteenth Century. The ceiling rebuilt in the twentieth Century.

First floor plan

Reference: 

1. Sylvain Gagiere Visitor's Guidebook: The Pope's Palace (Avignon)  RMG Palais de Papes (2004) print

2. http://dianasketch.blogspot.com Website