The sun in its travels …
Avignon was the hub of the universe for most of the fourteenth century. Or at least the hub of Western European Christianity.
Category: Avignon
Saint Bénezet’s eclipse and bridge
Probably all French children learn the song “On the Bridge of Avignon” at a tender age, and most people learning French anywhere in the world also have to learn it — I know I did.
The Dilettante of Avignon
This theater was built in 1846-47 to replace an earlier theater that had been destroyed by fire. For many years it was called Opéra-Théâtre d’Avignon or just Opéra d’Avignon, but on January 1, 2013 it was given a classy new name, so now it is officially known as the Opéra Read More …
The old Avignon Pass
The Avignon city tourist office at Square Agricol Perdiguier is just a five-minute walk from the central railroad station, straight ahead through the Porte de la République and along the main street Cours Jean Jaurès. This is the starting point for their guided walking tours (in French, usually) of the Read More …
Petit Palais Museum
This ‘small palace’ in Avignon is small only when compared to the huge Palace of the Popes on the same square, but by any other standards the Petit Palais is itself a large building, and it is filled to the brim with outstanding medieval religious artworks. To my relief, most Read More …
Calvet Museum in Avignon
The Calvet Museum is one of several worthwhile art museums in Avignon. Its main building is this mansion on Rue Joseph Vernet, which was built from 1741 to 1754 for a family called Villeneuve-Martignan. The museum has been located here since 1835. The street was named after the eighteenth-century painter Read More …
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (& bookshops)
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon) is the title of a famous painting from the year 1907 by Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). This painting has been described as revolutionary and controversial, as one of the most important canvases of the twentieth century and as a pivotal work in the development Read More …
By train to Avignon
The train station Gare Avignon TGV was opened in 2001 on the outskirts of Avignon as part of the new LGV Méditerranée, the high-speed railway line from Lyon to Marseille. Like most of the new TGV stations (such as the ones near Reims, Belfort and Besançon), this station has four Read More …
Bikes and trams in Avignon
As you may have noticed, I’m a great fan of urban bike sharing systems. I have used them successfully in Paris, Lyon, Antwerp, Hamburg, Bern, Zürich, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Dortmund, Hannover, Lille and a number of other cities, and was always highly satisfied. I was less satisfied with the system in Read More …
The Rhône River in Avignon
The Rhône River starts in the Swiss Alps. It flows into and out of Lake Geneva (which is called Lac Leman in French) — so Lake Geneva could conceivably be thought of as a very wide and deep part of the Rhône. At the lower (=east) end of the lake, Read More …