Bell Tower of the Franciscans Church (Avignon)

 tower, church

This major convent was destroyed in 1806 and all that remains are a few vestiges of the church ant the partial bell tower, which were incorporated into the structure of the Lycée Saint-Joseph built on the site in the middle of the nineteenth century. This couvent participated in two phases of the medieval urban development of Avignon. First, the Cordeliers (Franciscans) made their home in 1233 near the Imbert gate, on the banks of the Sorgue, during the same movement that established the Dominicans, Carmelites, Augustines, etc… , outside the earlier city walls. All of these establishments soon gave rise to boroughs. Secondly, the convent underwent further changes in the fourteenth century, including the reconstruction of a very large church. Such work was also done for the Augustines and several others convents that enjoyed the largess of the popes or cardinals. Here, John XXII began this reconstruction tat was still being subsidized by Clement VI.

This typical Avignonnais church consisted of a single nave with lateral chapels built under the buttresses. The bell tower, however, belongs to the same style as that of the Carmelites or of Notre-Dame-la-Principale. The lateral chapels housed the tombs of Avignon’s most important families. It is said that Petrarch’s famous Laura was buried there in 1348, in a tomb where supposedly François I himself would come to meditate.

In the cloister that was rebuilt once again in the seventeenth century, Louis XIV came in 1660, attempting to heal the scrofulous patients who had been gathered for his visit. During the Revolution, on October 16th 1791, a patriot by the name of Lescuyer was assassined by papists in the church. This assassination, along with the reprisals for the Glacière massacre that took place in the Palais des Papes, caused a national uproar. www.avignon.fr/en/visites/visite3en.php