You’ve wandered the halls of the Pope’s Palace, taken a selfie on the Pont d’Avignon, and enjoyed a lavender sorbet in the Place de l’Horloge – maybe now you feel refreshed enough to continue your cultural explorations in a more contemplative mode. Why not head off to one of the free city’s museums ?
Calvet Museum
The Calvet Museum, the city’s Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology, located in a bright 18th century mansion. We go there with the family to see the youngest gasp in front of the Egyptian mummies(especially those of cats), to discover the teenager suddenly enthusiastic about modern painting, to surprise the man of the house dreamily contemplating the statues of sleeping nudes and then happily swimming in the large formats of Joseph Vernet’s maritime scenes.
Open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. every day, except Tuesday.
Petit Palais Museum
The Petit Palais Museum stands in the shadow of its imposing neighbour, the Popes’ Palace. In a building that dates back to the time of the Popes – construction began in 1317! – you can admire Italian primitives and sense the first stirrings of the Renaissance, which would soon bring the artistic conventions of previous centuries crashing down. Finish off your visit with a well-earned cake in the museum’s tea room.
Requien Museum
Vaucluse’s Natural History Museum
The Requien Museum, the Natural History Museum of Vaucluse, holds the fascinating collections of 19th-century Avignon naturalist Esprit Requien. In this delightfully old-fashioned little museum, kids can take their picture next to a tyrannosaurus skull and send it to grandma, while the stuffed animals and fossils will transport older visitors back to the days of their childhood, when they played intrepid explorers roaming the countryside.
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 am – 1 pm and 2 – 6 pm
Palais du roure
The Palais du Roure – Definitely, just palaces in the City of Popes! Since the 15th century, it was the place of residence of an important Avignon family, the Baroncelli, from Florence, great lovers of Provencal culture. The place is now dedicated to the history and traditions of Provence. This time, the little one wonders how the stagecoach that drove Frédéric Mistral from Maillane to Avignon every week ended up on the top floor, and we have fun together counting all the bells of Jeanne de Flandreysy’s rich collection.
Open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 10am to 1pm and from 2pm to 6pm
The Lambert Collection, the Angladon Foundation and the Vouland Museum
Even if you have to pay to get in, it would be a pity to miss out on the city’s other gems, which show temporary exhibitions alongside their permanent collections:
The Collection Lambert brings together one of the world’s biggest contemporary art collections in two splendid townhouses on the little Rue Violette, one holding the permanent collection and the other housing temporary exhibitions. The Violette Restaurant is inside the museum.
Open from Wednesday to Sunday from Septembre to June
Every day during the Avignon Festival, from Tuesday to Sunday after the Festival and in August
Adult admission price: €12
The Vouland Museum displays a permanent collection of 13th- and 18th-century Decorative Arts, along with Provençal painters of the post-impressionist New Avignon School, and first-rate temporary exhibitions.
Open Tuesday to Saturday from 2 – 6 pm, except February.
Adult admission price: €6
The Angladon Foundation
The Angladon Foundation is undoubtedly one of the hidden jewels of the city of Avignon, a beautiful collectors’ house built in the shadow of the Ceccano Cardinal Palace (XIV), now a municipal library. This small museum houses the collection of the couturier and art lover Jacques Doucet, an iconic figure of the Roaring Twenties whose eye immediately understood the importance of the great artists of his time.
Tuesday to Sunday from April to October, Tuesday to Saturday in November and December. Price: €8
Hocquel, Gillet, Kessler