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Article: Papal echoes in Avignon: imposing medieval palace a reminder of church intrigue past.(Destinations)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- April 16, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The weather in Avignon in January was cold and gray. The mistral, the word coined for the fierce winds that sweep down from the Rhone, blew constantly. I shivered in my wool coat and when the wind blew through it as though it were paper I wished it were fur.
But Avignon, even in bad weather, is beautiful. The walled medieval city is by turns enchanting and imposing; the Palace of Popes bleakly magnificent. The 19th-century writer Prosper Merimee is said to have called the palace "an Asiatic tyrant's citadel." Immense, grim and hulking, the Gothic bulk of it dominates the large square in front of it. My companion had been bored by the French chateau we had visited ...