Avignon - Palais des Papes Notre-Dame des Doms RP 1949

Postcard

 

• Picture / Image:  Avignon - Palais des Papes Facade et Notre-Dame-des-Doms - real photo type
• Publisher:  Les Editions Mar, Nice
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  15f red defin.
• Postmark(s):  Nice June 1949 slogan
• Sent to:  Darlington, England
• Notes & Key words: 

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UK (incl. IOM, CI & BFPO): 99p

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NOTE: All postcards are sent in brand new stiffened envelopes which I have bought for the task. These are specially made to protect postcards and you may be able to re-use them. In addition there are other costs to sending so the above charge is not just for the stamp!

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information:

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The Palais des Papes is a historical palace in Avignon, southern France, one of the largest and most important medieval Gothic buildings in Europe.

Since 1995, the palais des Papes is classified with the historic center of Avignon, on the World Heritage Site of the UNESCO, with cultural criteria i, ii and iv.

Avignon became the residence of the Popes in 1309, when the Gascon Bertrand de Goth, as Pope Clement V, unwilling to face the violent chaos of Rome after his election (1305), moved the Papal Curia to Avignon, a period known as the Avignon Papacy. Clement lived as a guest in the Dominican monastery at Avignon, and his successor Pope John XXII set up a magnificent establishment there, but the reconstruction of the old bishops' palace was begun in earnest by Pope Benedict XII (1334-42) and continued by his successors to 1364. The site, on a natural rocky outcrop at the northern edge of Avignon, overlooking the river Rhône, was that of the old episcopal palace of the bishops of Avignon. The Palais was built in two principal phases with two distinct segments, known as the Palais Vieux (Old Palace) and Palais Neuf (New Palace). By the time of its completion, it occupied an area of 11,000 m² (2.6 acres). The building was enormously expensive, consuming much of the papacy's income during its construction.

The Palais Vieux was constructed by the architect Pierre Poisson of Mirepoix at the instruction of Pope Benedict XII. The austere Benedict had the old/new episcopal palace razed and replaced with a much larger building centreed on a cloister, heavily fortified against attackers. Its four wings are flanked with high towers.