Avignon › Places and landmarks
Places and landmarks in Avignon
13 landmarks of Avignon, and the streets, squares and waterways around them, each with its story and where to find it.
Photo: Henk Monster, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Landmarks
Palais des PapesThe largest Gothic palace in the world, built when the popes lived in Avignon, from 1309 to 1377.
Pont Saint-BénezetThe bridge of the song “Sur le pont d’Avignon”, of which only four arches are left.
Place de l’HorlogeThe town square, named after the Gothic clock tower behind the town hall, with a carousel and café terraces.
Rocher des DomsThe rocky hill above the palace, a garden with a view over the Rhône and the bridge.
Notre-Dame des DomsThe Romanesque cathedral beside the palace, topped by a gilded statue of the Virgin.
Hôtel de VilleThe town hall of 1856 on the Place de l’Horloge, built round an older Gothic tower.
Les HallesThe covered market behind a living wall of plants, with Provençal food under one roof.
RampartsThe 4.3-kilometre stone wall built by the popes, which still rings the whole old town.
Rue de la RépubliqueThe broad street from the station gate to the Place de l’Horloge, cut through the old town in the 19th century.
Musée CalvetA museum of fine arts in an 18th-century town house, founded on a doctor’s collection.
Also part of Avignon
Streets, squares and waterways
The places that hold the centre of Avignon together. Point at one to find it on the map.
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1
The Rhône Le Rhône waterway
The wide, fast river along the north and west of the walls, on its way from the Alps to the Mediterranean.
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2
Pont Saint-Bénezet bridge
The bridge of the song, Sur le pont d’Avignon. Floods carried away most of its arches, and only four of them still stand.
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3
Rocher des Doms park
A garden on top of the rock above the river, with a pond and a view over the Rhône to Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Mont Ventoux.
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4
Place du Palais square
The wide sloping square in front of the Palais des Papes, with the cathedral at its top end.
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5
Place de l’Horloge square
Avignon’s main square, lined with café terraces, the city hall, the theatre and an old carousel.
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6
Rue de la République street
The straight main shopping street, cut through the old town in the 19th century from the station gate to Place de l’Horloge.
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7
Porte de l’Oulle gate
A gate in the western ramparts, facing the Rhône and the bridge to the Île de la Barthelasse.
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8
Rue Joseph Vernet street
A curving street of 17th- and 18th-century mansions, now home to fashion shops and the Musée Calvet.
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9
Place Saint-Pierre square
A small square in front of the Gothic church of Saint-Pierre, whose carved walnut doors date from the 16th century.
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10
Place Pie square
The square of Les Halles, the covered market, whose front wall is covered in a vertical garden of living plants.
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11
Rue des Marchands street
A narrow pedestrian shopping street between Place de l’Horloge and Place Carnot.
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12
Rue du Roi René street
A quiet street of old mansions, where the poet Petrarch is said to have first seen his Laura, in the church of Sainte-Claire, in 1327.
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13
Rue des Teinturiers street
A cobbled street under plane trees beside a canal of the Sorgue, where cloth dyers worked into the 19th century and a few old waterwheels still turn.
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14
Place des Corps-Saints square
A shady square of plane trees and café terraces in the south of the old town.