Musée du Petit Palais – Louvre en Avignon
Formerly the palace of the archbishops and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the museum houses masterpieces of medieval and Renaissance art.
Open since 1976, the museum offers the public collections from two distinct origins: the collection of Italian paintings assembled by the Marquis Campana in the first half of the 19th century and constituting an exceptional deposit from the Louvre Museum and a set of Provençal paintings and sculptures from the Middle Ages deposited by the Calvet Foundation – Municipal Public Establishment.
The Campana Collection, comprising over 300 works, offers visitors a wonderful exploration of Italian painting and its evolution, from 13th-century works influenced by Byzantine art to the Florentine pictorial revolution and its impact: a true panorama of Italian painting, showcasing some of the most famous names of the period (Botticelli, Carpaccio) as well as numerous masters and workshops from almost every region of the peninsula. But the Petit Palais is also a museum of medieval Avignon and Provençal art, presenting a particularly rich collection of 14th-century funerary sculptures, including the impressive tomb of Cardinal Jean de Lagrange, as well as paintings from what was, in the 15th century, one of the most innovative artistic centers in France, the Avignon School: the full richness of Avignon's artistic life in the 14th and 15th centuries is revealed.
Housed in the former archbishop's palace, whose construction began in the early 14th century with the establishment of the papacy in Avignon, the Petit Palais Museum enjoys a prestigious location on the Place du Palais des Papes, at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to this exceptional location and the quality of its collections, the Petit Palais Museum can proudly claim to be one of Europe's leading museums of the Middle Ages.
CLOSED FROM NOVEMBER 16TH TO 30TH INCLUSIVE.
IH: Museum not wheelchair accessible and difficult to access for people with reduced mobility due to a large number of steps.
Themes
Location details
- In the city
- Pedestrian zone
Visit
Language(s) of the visit
Individual visit services
- Unguided individual tours permanently
- Guided individual tours on request
Group visit services
- Unguided group visits on request
- Guided group tours on request
Opening
Exceptional Closure(s)
- 01/01/2026
- 01/05/2026
- 25/12/2026
Prices
Free self-guided tours of the permanent collections.
Services
Services
Activities on site
- Temporary exhibitions
- Animation
Home animals
Accessible tourism
Physical disability
Partially accessible museum.
Linked offers
On the spot…
Place du Palais
Historical site and monument
Visite guidée du musée du Petit Palais – Entre Sienne et Florence : voyage au cœur de la Renaissance
Free
Le 14 October 2026
Visite ludique en famille du musée du Petit Palais – Entrez dans l’atelier du peintre !
Free
Le 14 October 2026
Visite animée en famille au musée du Petit Palais – Mystères et symboles : les codes secrets des saints
Free
Le 20 October 2026
Visite animée en famille du musée du Petit Palais – Scènes courtoises : l’art de vivre au Moyen Âge
Free
Le 22 October 2026
