Shaded from the summer's heat, the three cloisters, 24 cells, church, chapels and nook-and-cranny gardens of the Chartreuse du Val de Bénédiction make up France's biggest Carthusian monastery, founded in 1352 by Pope Innocent VI, who was buried here 10 years later in an elaborate mausoleum.
Chartreuse du Val de Bénédiction
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If you're searching for that classic postcard shot of the medieval abbey surrounded by a sea of purple lavender, look no further. This sublime Cistercian…
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This monastery turned asylum is famous for one of its former residents – the ever-volatile Vincent van Gogh, who admitted himself in 1889. Safe within the…
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Nearby attractions
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King Philip the Fair (aka Philippe le Bel) wasn’t messing around when he built defensive 14th-century Fort St-André on the then border between France and…
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Inside a 17th-century mansion, this museum's masterwork is Enguerrand Quarton’s The Crowning of the Virgin (1453), in which angels wrest souls from…
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King Philip commissioned the Tour Philippe-le-Bel, 500m outside Villeneuve, to control traffic over Pont St-Bénézet to and from Avignon. The steep steps…
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Legend says Pastor Bénézet (a former shepherd) had three visions urging him to build a bridge across the Rhône. Completed in 1185, the 900m-long bridge…
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Porte du Rhône is one of the entryways to Avignon's Unesco-registered walled city, located on the northwestern edge of the walls, near Pont St-Bénézet.
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The archbishops' palace during the 14th and 15th centuries now houses outstanding collections of primitive, pre-Rennaissance, 13th- to 16th-century…
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This impressive vast square surrounding the Palais des Papes provides knockout photo ops. On top of the Romanesque 17th-century cathedral stands a golden…
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