The Papal Palace
One time fortress and palace, the papal residence was the seat of Western Christianity from 1309 when a French Pope was elected and felt unsafe in Rome. The Church bought Avignon and moved. The Palais is actually made up of two buildings: the old Palais of Benedict XII which sits on the impregnable rock of Doms, and the adjoining new Palais of Clement VI, the most extravagant of the Avignon popes. The final combination is the largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages housing 500 people. Later popes were convinced the seat of the papacy could only be the tomb of St Peter and returned to Rome permanently on 13 September 1370, although there were 2 renegade popes who remained after this ie antipopes. In Napoleons time, the building became a barracks and many alterations were made.
One time fortress and palace, the papal residence was the seat of Western Christianity from 1309 when a French Pope was elected and felt unsafe in Rome. The Church bought Avignon and moved. The Palais is actually made up of two buildings: the old Palais of Benedict XII which sits on the impregnable rock of Doms, and the adjoining new Palais of Clement VI, the most extravagant of the Avignon popes. The final combination is the largest Gothic building of the Middle Ages housing 500 people. Later popes were convinced the seat of the papacy could only be the tomb of St Peter and returned to Rome permanently on 13 September 1370, although there were 2 renegade popes who remained after this ie antipopes. In Napoleons time, the building became a barracks and many alterations were made.