Avignon - Palace of the Pope

You don't have to agree with the following thoughts... I could be wrong... I'm just saying....

Ok... let's put it out there... the Palace of the Popes in Avignon (locally called Palais des Popes) isn't the leading building of its age... the good citizens of Avignon make this claim... I disagree. My contention is that it was built as a commercial building... not a building to inspire a nation... not a building to show an artist's love of his world. Palace is the wrong title... it should have been called 'Pope's Administrative Centre'.

Let's start with 1334... the year Pope Benedict commenced building the old palace. Around Europe building commenced on a number of other buildings... just skim this list... Exeter Cathedral... Giotto's Bell Tower in Florence, Italy... Gloucester Abbey... St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague... Madrasa Imami, Isfahan, Persia (Iran), is founded... Court of the Lions, Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada, Spain... Hall of the Abencerrajes, Palace of the Lions, Alhambra, Granada, Spain.

Many of these buildings made major advances in architecture, engineering and artistic expression... a claim that the Palace of the Popes can't make on any of these scores.

Let's look at the historical perspective... Pope Clement V got himself elected Pope... but his rivals were bounders... cads... low class scoundrels... who would not accept the result and kicked up a stink. King Phillip of France stepped in with hobnail boots... stopped the riots in the streets... but built lasting resentment against Pope Clement V. Clement made an embarrassing, hasty exit in taking the papal seat to the backblocks of Avignon... middle of nowhere... not a saint's tomb within 100 klms of the place. He took with him only a skeleton of administration staff... just enough to get by... not enough to collect every cent of taxes owed to the church.

A couple of Popes later, Pope Benedict XII tried to put in order the affairs of the Papal State. Fortunately, the lady who owned Avignon at that time, killed her husband... and was hoping the church could be persuaded to grant dispensation for this minor lapse in good manners. Benedict said , "All is forgiven, provided you sell us Avignon for 800 florins." The deal was done... and the good lady got to go to heaven. Benedict had a great site to erect the leading building of its age. France made available its best architects... but two problems remained. First, the Papal State was short of money... only temporarily, mind... just a liquidity problem. Second, Benedict wanted a building quickly. His administration team in Rome was falling apart... time was of the essence.

So, the old palace was designed to provide efficient administration and good security. Within 8 years he was able to centralise his administration in Avignon... at last he could collect the monies owing to the church. For example in the old palace... the flogging room (they had a refined name for the room) was located adjacent to the investigative court room. The money collection room was next to the accounts department... that was next to the treasury... that was next to the Pope's private quarters. Pope Benedict's business systems were copied by all the royal houses of Europe. He pioneered major advances in systems design... he may not have won the 'best builder' award for the 1330's ... but he certainly won 'businessman of the decade' award.

Money poured into the Papal State... and Benedict's successor... Pope Clement VI... found he had spare money to spend. He undertook to add a new place to the old palace. However, the end result was also going to be a building that grew like Topsy... no clean design... no dominating narrative to the total building. Again, his French architects did a good job, given their starting point. However, when it came to decorating... they showed inexperience... the Ottomans would have tarred, drawn and quartered the tilers who laid the floors in the new palace. The frescos were of poor quality... no Leonardos or Michelangelos amongst that lot. Not too many straight lines in the whole building. Nonetheless, it served the Avignon Papalcy for 50 years.

When quieter times returned to Rome, the church didn't take long to find scriptural reasons to move back beside the gravestone of St. John in Rome ... and by coincidence... closer to a better quality of builder and artist.

The poor old Palace of the Popes at Avignon had a downhill trajectory from there. Lesser rulers called it home... for a time it was a prison and an army barracks. However, its historical importance has always been recognised. In the last 100 years various projects have maintained sections of the palace to restore it to its previous glory.