Petit Palais Museum

Petit Palais Museum

  • Outstanding collection of Italian (The Campana collection, Louvre Museum deposit) and Provencal paintings from the late 13 th to the early 16 th centuries, and collection of Romanesque and Gothic Avignon sculptures. The museum of the Petit Palais is one of big European Museums of medieval art. Certified Museum of France, it is also classified in the UNESCO world heritage.

  • Once a Cardinal's palace, home to Cardinal Arnaud de Via (died in 1335), nephew of Pope John XXII, then thehome of the Archbishop of Avignon, this palace was rebuilt in the late 15th century by the archbishop Julien de la Rovère, future Pope Jules II.
    The crenelated façade has lovely mullion windows.
    Now a museum, it houses a unique set of paintings from the Middle Ages and the Italian Renaissance, over three hundred Italian primitives, that made up the Campan collection, significant works from the Calvet Museum (the Avignon School between the 13th and the 16th centuries), medieval sculptures from the 12th to the 16th centuries, from Avignon and its surroundings.
    This set of work is an essential step to understanding artistic creation in Italy in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It provides a panorama of Italian painters - Botticelli, Carpaccio, and many masters and ateliers. It also displays medieval Provençal sculptures and paintings, and Italian painatings from the Calvet Foundation.

    Source: Avignon Tourist Office
    Petit Palais Museum (Avignon) | Avignon Tourisme (avignon-tourisme.com)