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Avignon - Le Palais des Papes
For a long time already, and certainly during the second half of the 13th century, the pope resided regularly outside of Rome. Innocent IV, for example, sojourned several years in Lyon between 1245 and 1251. When Pope Clement V came to Avignon in 1309, received by the Dominicans, he had no intention of establishing himself permanently, nor of creating a new Christian capital in Avignon. It was, nonetheless, the role that the city would play for a hundred years.

The choice of Avignon as a permanent residence was essentially the result of political considerations. The pope no longer wanted to stay in a Rome torn by rival clans, prey to constant riots and uprisings. After the schism between the eastern and western church, Rome found herself outside the center of Catholic Christianity, of which the kingdoms of France and England formed the two great and rival powers. Avignon lies adjacent to the County of Venaissin, church land since 1274. The city itself belonged to Charles II of Anjou, Count of Provence as well as king of Naples, making him a vassal and faithful ally of the pope. Pacified, Provence enjoyed a profound peace for half a century.

During the first period, from 1309 to 1376, six successive popes resided in Avignon: Clement V, Jean XXII, Benoit XII, Clement VI, Innocent VI et Urban V. These 67 years radically transformed the city, and left a marked imprint, to which the city today owes its world renown.

Construction of the celebrated Popes' Palace, a fortified palace of a colossal spread, began in 1335, under the pontificate of Benoit XII. At the time of his successor's, Clement VI, death, the palace was practically completed.