View allAll Photos Tagged AVIGNON
This Avignon tramcar has just turned from reservation alongside the Avenue de la Croix Rouge to reservation alongside the Avenue du Roi Soleil.
Croix Rouge, "Red Cross," may refer to the "section du Bonnet-Rouge," also known as the "section de la Croix-Rouge;" "sections" were subdivisions of Paris during the Révolution. Croix Rouge may also refer to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its institutions.
Roi Soleil, "Sun King," refers to Louis XIV of France (1638-1715), whose reign of more than 72 years is described as "the longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country in history."
(A well-known quotation attributed to Louis XIV - "L'état, c'est moi;" "I am the state" - was dismissed as apocryphal within a few decades after it was first reported.)
2021 August 13.
Avignon is a commune in south-eastern France in the department of Vaucluse on the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 90,194 inhabitants of the city (as of 2011), about 12,000 live in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval ramparts.
Between 1309 and 1377 during the Avignon Papacy, seven successive popes resided in Avignon and in 1348 Pope Clement VI bought the town from Joanna I of Naples. Papal control persisted until 1791 when, during the French Revolution, it became part of France. The town is now the capital of the Vaucluse department and one of the few French cities to have preserved its ramparts.
The historic centre, which includes the Palais des Papes, the cathedral, and the Pont d'Avignon, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. The medieval monuments and the annual Festival d'Avignon have helped to make the town a major centre for tourism.
The commune has been awarded one flower by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom
This photo is licensed under a Creative Commons license. Please credit Rob Larsen with a link to Drunkenfist.com, if you use this photo anywhere. Thanks.