Avignon - Pont Saint-Bénézet

Avignon was Greek Emporium around 539 BC. Much later it became a Roman colony, named "Colonia Julia Hadriana Avenniensis". During the migration period the Goths looted the town and in 472 it was sacked by the Burgundians.

In 500 Clovis I, King of the Franks besieged Avignon. He devastated the fields, cut down the vines and olive trees, and destroyed the orchards.

In 734 it fell into the hands of the Saracens and was destroyed in 737 by Charles Martel´s Franks. Avignon recovered and in 916 King of Provence Louis the Blind restored the churches of Saint-Ruf and Saint-Géniès to the diocese of Avignon.

After the division of Charlemagne´s empire, Avignon was owned jointly by the Count of Provence and the Count of Toulouse. In 1135 the rights were resigned to the local Bishops and Consuls.

At the end of the 12th century, Avignon declared itself an independent republic. When in 1226, the citizens refused to open the gates to King Louis VIII of France, the French besieged the Avignon and after it was taken forced it to pull down its ramparts .

Philip III of France inherited Avignon and passed it to his son Philip the Fair in 1285. It passed in turn in 1290 to Charles II of Naples.

In 1309 the city was chosen by Pope Clement V as his residence. Avignon, rather than Rome was the seat of the Papacy. It became the Pontifical residence under Pope Clement V in 1309. His successor, John XXII made it the capital of Christianity and transformed the former episcopal palace into the Palace of the Popes.

Under the Papal rule, the Court seethed and attracted many painters, sculptors and musicians. The Gothic palace was the result of the joint work of the best French architects. The papal library in Avignon was the largest in Europe in the 14th century with 2,000 volumes.

Gregory XI decided to return to Rome. His death caused the Great Schism. Clement VII and Benedict XIII reigned again in Avignon. Overall it was nine popes who succeeded in the papal palace.

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Pont Saint-Bénézet (aka Pont d’Avignon) is the ruin of a bridge, that once spanned the Rhone. It was erected from 1234 on. With 22 stone arches and a length of 915 metres, it was one of the longest bridges in Europe at that time. It replaced a wooden bridge, built between 1177 and 1185 and destroyed during the Albigensian Crusade when Louis VIII of France laid siege to Avignon.

The Pont d’Avignon was abandoned in the 17th century as the arches tended to collapse each time the Rhone flooded. Only four arches and the gatehouse have survived.

This is the place, cited in the song

"Sur le pont d'Avignon,
On y danse, on y danse,
Sur le pont d'Avignon
On y danse tous en rond..."