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Avignon, cité des Papes.
Named the City of the Popes or Altera Roma, Avignon retains the indelible mark of the Popes’ stay in the city, which was for a while the capital of the Medieval western world.
The Pope's Palace was described by contemporaries as "the most beautiful and biggest house in the world". Since the Middle Ages, the richness and brilliance of the pontifical court has faded, but the palace remains, a superb fortress raising its imposing walls to the sky and testifying to the strength of the Supreme Pontiffs, whose power was as much temporal as spiritual. It was built between 1335 and 1352, under the pontificates of Benedict XII and Clement VI. It is the largest gothic palace in the world.
The Saint Benezet's Bridge was started in 1177. 920 metres long, it had 22 arches and measured 4 metres wide. Before the bridge, people crossed the Rhône in small boats, and this river that Man had not yet domesticated often made the crossing quite perilous. In 1226, after the terrible siege to which Louis VIII subjected the city, three quarters of the bridge was destroyed. A few years later, despite it being forbidden, the people of Avignon put themselves to the task and rebuilt it. In 1603, following strong flooding of the Rhône, one arch collapsed, then three others in 1605. Repair work didn't start until1628, interrupted by an epidemic of plague, and the bridge was not usable again until 1633. Two months later, two new arches were swept away by the Rhône.