Les Jardins du Palais des papes

The Gardens of the Palais des Papes are made up of three entities: the Pope's Garden (or Griffin Garden) and the Palace Garden (or Benedict XII's orchard), the two "upper gardens", located directly under the facades of the Palace are accessible during your visit, the Urban V orchard or "lower garden" located outside the Benedict XII enclosure is a public garden managed by the City, with free access

History of the gardens
The gardens were created in the XNUMXth century by the popes.
The popes settled in Avignon for about a century (from 1309 to 1403), building a palace in the heart of the city – the Palais des Papes – and laying out gardens for their enjoyment. These gardens were enlarged, transformed, and embellished throughout this period. Then the popes left Avignon for good in 1403.
The legates and vice-legates were then charged by the pontiff with managing the city of Avignon, as the city had been purchased by the pope in 1348. They lived in the Palace and made significant changes to the gardens. During the Revolution, the Palace was confiscated as national property.
At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, it was occupied by the military. The gardens are completely transformed and change in nature: they lose their vocation of pleasure to become a place of military exercises.
After the Civil Engineering Department left in 1906, the City became the owner of the Palace. It carried out a long and patient restoration of the monument over several decades. The restoration of the gardens, planned for over a century, was only recently implemented.

The restoration project
Initially, preventive archeology studies were entrusted to
Anne Allimant-Verdillon. Then, the redevelopment of the gardens of the Palais des Papes was led by the team of Didier Repellin,
Chief architect of Historic Monuments, composed of Mirabelle Croizier and Thomas Bricheux, heritage architects, Antoine Quenardel, landscape architect,
OGI – Philippe Carton, fountain engineer.
700 years of history:
The superposition of archaeological strata constitutes a complex palimpsest resulting from the many successive states from the XNUMXth to the XNUMXth century. However, restoring any state is impossible.
On the one hand, archeology has not made it possible to find a state as a whole,
but a whole fragmented and intertwined story. On the other hand, the return of
medieval floor levels would suppose the destruction of the later levels
particularly interesting. The Charter of Florence is explicit on this point: article 17, "when a garden has totally disappeared or when we only have conjectural elements of its successive states, we cannot then undertake a restitution falling under the notion of historic garden . »
It is therefore the party to evoke the very rich history of the site by the restitution of spaces, atmospheres, sometimes uses, more than by the restitution of forms. The project takes up the constants of the site: the water, the pergolas, the limits, the vegetation, and of course the exceptional scale of the eastern facade of the Palace.

They are classified as Historic Monuments and are part of the group included on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The 3 gardens inaugurated in 2018 and 2020 have received several distinctions:
– The Golden Gesture of Project Management in November 2019, with 10 Historic Monument rehabilitation operations carried out by the City.
– The Victoires du Paysage, in December 2022, Gold victory in the historic garden category, and public prize. This competition is organized every two years by Val'hor, a professional organization that represents all plant professions (nurseries, landscape architects and landscaping companies). It rewards project owners with a prize and represents an excellent opportunity to recognize the quality and uniqueness of a project.
– The Remarkable Garden Label was awarded in 2023 by the Ministry of Culture for a period of 5 years. It recognizes quality gardens, open to the public, whose owners ensure the quality of maintenance and public information.

It is now possible to visit the Palace gardens alone (entrance via the Maria Casares courtyard, at the rear of the monument), or to combine their visit with that of the Pont d'Avignon or the Palais des Papes.

Free every day for Avignon residents and residents of Montfavet upon presentation of proof of address.
By reservation at the Tourist Office on site / by telephone at +33(0)4 32 74 32 74 or via the link: http://online3-next.citybreak.com/675562970/fr/fr/voir-et-a-faire

Animals are not allowed.

Picnics are not permitted.

Free every day for Avignonnais and inhabitants of Montfavet on presentation of proof of residence.
By reservation at the Tourist Office on site / by telephone at +33(0)4 32 74 32 74 or via the link: http://online3-next.citybreak.com/675562970/fr/fr/voir-et-a-faire