The Great Chapel
The Great Chapel of the Palace of the Popes is one of the major architectural achievements of the pontificate of Clement VI.
A vast vessel 52 m long by 15 wide and 20 high, the Clémentine Chapel is a real tour de force by the architect Jean de Louvres. Its exceptional dimensions make it possible to give splendor and solemnity to the divine service. Thanks to its impressive architectural features, the Grande Chapelle became a laboratory in which the practice of polyphonic singing was perfected, linked to the liturgy known as Ars nova, making Avignon a very prominent musical capital in the Middle Ages. Dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul, it also hosts solemn masses, coronation ceremonies and funerals. Completed in 1351 after four years of work, the pope was able to celebrate All Saints' Day there before his death.
The great exhibitions of the Palais des Papes
Since the opening of the monument to the public, and in particular since the Art Week initiated by René Char and Jean Vilar in 1947, which was to give birth to the Festival d'Avignon, the Grande Chapelle has hosted major art exhibitions every year. contemporary: Picasso in 1970, Mignard in 1979, Catherine de Siena in 1992... In all, nearly thirty major events have enabled visitors to discover the biggest names in international art.
1948 Sacred Art Exhibition
1949 Fourth Wall Art Fair in Great BritainChapel (proposed by the Circle of International Artistic Exchanges) +
exhibition of tapestries in the Great Audience (proposed by the director of the Museums of France).
1952 "Papal centenarians 1352-1952"
1969 " The eye listen "
1970 « Picasso. Works from 1969 to 1970 »
1971 World Exhibition of children's creation
1973 « Picasso. Works from 1970 to 1972 »
1978 " Fifty years of lithography at the Mourlot workshops »
1979 Mignard of Avignon (1606-1668) »
1980 « Mother Geneviève Gallois »
1981 « Living Room Comparisons 81+ Alfred Lesbros (1873-1940) »
1982 « Centenary Auguste Chabaud 1882-1955 »
1984 « Rouault (1871-1958) »
1985 works from the Maeght + Georges Foundation Mathieu
1986 « Introduction to a Bicentenary – The Revolution in the Land of Vaucluse »
1986-1987 "Painters and the Theater"
1988 « Alberto Magnelli. – Centenary Exhibition »
1989 « Bicentenary. The Revolution in the collectionsAvignon and Vaucluse »
1990 « Rene Char. Going a long way with…»
1992 « Siena in Avignon 1992 » Catherine of Siena + « Before Leonardo, The science of machines in Siena during the Renaissance”.
1993 « Botero in Avignon »
1994 Dubuffet, “High Places – Landscapes 1944-1984 »
1995 "Picasso at the Palace of the Popes, 25 years later” + “Small squares of history. Paving and coveringWall ments in the Mediterranean South in the Middle Ages”.
1996 " Of them palace for Rodin »
1997 « Woven stories – The legend of Saint-Etienne and Celestial Brocades »
1998 “Watchmaking Treasures. Time and its measurement from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance »
1999 Primitive Passion
2000 " The beauty in fabula” (Avignon, European City of Culture)
2001 "Golden wonders and silk, Textile treasures of Notre-Dame des Doms from the XNUMXthe century to the nineteenthe century” + Gao Xingjian.
2002 “Monument of History. Build, reconto destroy the Palace of the Popes, XIVe-XXe century. "
2003 "The spirit of the place" (in the framework of "Public Treasury, 20 years of creation in the Regional Funds of contemporary art).
2004-2005 “Saints of Byzantium. Greek icons of Veroia. XIIIeand seventeenthe century ".
2006 "Scene Memory"
2008 “Douglas Gordon. Where are the keys? (in collaboration with the Lambert Collection)
2010 “Terra Mare” – Miquel Barcelo (in collaboration with the Lambert Collection)
2011 "Bridges"
2013 “Les Papesses” (in collaboration with the Collection Lambert)
2014 “Mediterranean Metamorphoses – Stefan Szczeny”
2015-2016 "Unpublished images of a restoration"
2017 "The Pathfinders" (In collaboration with the Blachère Foundation)
2018 “Mirabilis” Scenography Christian Lacroix (Avignon Museums)
2019 “Ecce homo – Ernest Pignon-Ernest, Facilities 1966-2019 »
2021 “Tigers and Vultures – Yan Pei-Ming” (in collaboration with the Lambert Collection) + “Darkness and Light” – Giorgio Dante
2022 « Amazonia » – Photographs Sébastiao Salgado, musical creation Jean-Michel Jarre.
2023 « Palazzo » – Eva Jospin
