AVIGNON, hat. rcnio, either from arena, oats, or from Celt. aron, water. re ferring to the rivers surrounding it). A French town and the sent of an archbishopric in the Department of Vaucluse, of which it is the capital. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhone, on a lofty plateau, at a distance of 30 miles from the Mediterranean (Slap: France, L 8). It presents a most striking appearance upon this wall-girdled height, on the summit of which rises the cathedral, and the impressive mass of the old Papal palace; but the streets, as in most walled towns• are crooked, narrow, and often steep; the houses mean and dirty. There are, however, two tine promenades and some pleasant squares in the city. The famous old bridge of Avignon still exists in part. The prin cipal buildings are the venerable cathedral, Notre Dame des Dons. a grand and gloomy Romanesque structure, dating mainly from the time of the Crusades; the Popes' palace, with its six towers, used at present as barracks, a Gothic pile of the Fourteenth Century; the conservatory of music ; the ancient archbishop's palace, now used as a seminary; the Muse Calvet, which contains Roman and other antiquities; and a picture gallery which is one of the best in the provinces. The public library contains printed volumes and 4000 MSS., and 25.000 autographs. Avignon has a lyceum, two theo logical seminaries, the famous Acadt'nie de Vaucluse, and a botanical garden. The indus
tries of the town comprise cotton-spinning, pa per-making, manufacture of agricultural imple ments, tin, copper, and other hardware, hats and bonnets, velvet, taffeta, etc., and there is con siderable trade in silk, wine, brandy, olive-oil, truffles, grain, and flour; in fact. Avignon is the central wheat-market of Provence. Population, in 1896, 32,100. Avig,Tion was a flourishing city under the Romans. Early in the Middle Ages it was part of the Burgundian kingdom, upon whose dissolution it became a republic or com mune, ruled by consuls. The city was the seat of the Papal court, from 1309, when Clement V. took up his residence there, until 1376. when Gregory XL left it to make Rome once more the Papal metropolis. In the period immediately fol lowing, the antipopes. Clement V11. and Benedict XIII., made Avignon their residence. The city was the property of the Papal see from 1348 to 1791, when it was seized by France. Avignon is connected with the name of Petrarch, who first saw Laura there. in 1326. He lived there sev eral years. Consult Sliintz, "La cour pontificale d'Avignon," in Vol. XXII., Revue des questions historiques (Paris, 1899).