Avignon is situated on the left bank of the Rhône, a few miles above its confluence with the Durance, about 580 km (360.4 mi) south-south-east of Paris, 229 km (142.3 mi) south of Lyon and 85 km (52.8 mi) north-north-west of Marseille. Avignon is often subject to windy weather, the strongest wind is the mistral
Avignon is also called the second Rome because of the arrival of the popes in the 14th Century during the Babylonian captivity, it also was the residence of several antipopes from 1378 to 1408. After a plebiscite it was incorporated to France in 1791. Avignon is a full history city, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Avignon is the capital of the Vaucluse département, located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, with a population of aproximately 85,935 people. The name of this city comes from the Celts who called the area The Avenio that means the Town of violent Winds.
The era of the Popes, from 1376 to 1409, is the most important and significant in Avignon's history, six Popes took Avignon as their official residence, they were:
* Pope Clement V
* Pope John XXII
* Pope Benedict XII
* Pope Clement VI
* Pope Innocent VI
* Pope Urban V
* Pope Gregory XI
This period also increased the city's population of aproximately 40,000 inhabitants, many of them suffered the plague's consecuences and the population diminished to 15,000. The Papacy period was also known as the Babylonian Captivity of exile, in reference to the Israelites' enslavement in biblical times. Before this period Avignon was a not very interesting town, but during this residence it become one of the most beautiful French cities. It was built the Pope's Palace, an imposing fortress made up of towers, other examples are the old churches as: St. Didier, St. Peter and St. Agricola, all of them were built or restored by Popes, cardinals and other dignataries. The papal return to Rome prompted the Great Schism, during which the antipopes Clement VII and Benedict XIII continued to reside at Avignon.
After this period Avignon continued to be ruled by legates as papal territory but Avignon was finally incorporated to France after the French Revolution. Now Avignon is the comercial capital of France, because of the trail transport, the silk and madder root trade and because it was the main provider of fresh market products in France. After the World War Two this city begun to grow in economic and culture, the Theater Festival was created and Avignon was elected a European City of Culture in 2000 year.
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