Archives Municipales – Musée du Mont de Piété et de la Condition des Soies

Established since 1986 in the buildings of the former Mont-de-piété, the Avignon Municipal Archives department collects, classifies, preserves, communicates and promotes documents from municipal services and establishments, but also from institutions or private individuals, from 1577 to the present day. The preserved archives take the form of paper files, registers, maps, plans, photographs, postcards, films, etc.

The Municipal Archives are a public cultural and heritage service. They strive to facilitate access to archival documents for all, whether for scientific research or for pleasure. As the "attic of memory" for residents, they are a place of citizenship.
Every day, upon registration, the public is welcomed and guided through their research in the reading room. As part of their mission to promote the archives, the history of the city, and its inhabitants, the Municipal Archives of Avignon organize one or two temporary exhibitions each year. These exhibitions, designed as a dialogue between the archives and the public, are installed on the exterior walls of the building. They thus take their place in the urban and lived-in space.

In the former pawnshop chapel, a permanent museum space has been set up which presents objects, works and documents allowing us to retrace the history of the oldest pawnshop in France (1610) and of the establishment dedicated to the packaging of silks which its administrators created in 1801.

– Self-guided tour of approximately 1 hour.

– Guided tours by reservation (maximum 19 people, €30 per group).

– Family workshops during school holidays.


Double-sided – Chronology / panorama
The City of Avignon (Municipal Archives) has published an 8-part leaflet, presenting, on the front, a 360-degree panorama of Avignon from the belfry of the town hall at the end of the XNUMXth century (photographs by Henri Févrot assembled and captioned), and, on the back, a detailed chronological timeline of the history of Avignon. A summary to obtain urgently!
>> €5 – on sale at the reception of the Municipal Archives

Reading room
The reading room is the workroom of the Municipal Archives. It has six spaces dedicated to consulting original and digitized documents. The archives' databases and inventories are available there, as well as a library of reference books accessible on a self-service basis.


Digital exhibitions:
The City Archives' digital exhibition module has just doubled the number of its exhibitions made available to the public on the Internet.
From now on, it is possible to find, in a dynamic form, the contents of eight former temporary exhibitions.
The Avignon of the festival
We were remaking the world: memories of 1968 in Avignon
Avignon 14-18: the Great War on all fronts
From the pawnshop to the municipal credit union
Amazing heritage
Baby register boxes: find the city archives
Seen from afar
Maps and plans

IH: Accessible by access ramps.
The temporary exhibitions presented on the exterior walls of the building are also accessible.
Self-guided tour suitable for people with hearing impairments.

Self-guided tour, approximately 1 hour
Guided tours are organized on request and by reservation for a maximum of 19 people. Price: €30.