Avignon (France) – Location, History, Facts

Avignon is a commune and the prefecture of Vaucluse in southern France’s Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.

Avignon, France.

Country: France
Coordinates: 43.9486° N, 4.8083° E
Country and region: France; Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, in the country’s south
Administrative status: Commune and prefecture of Vaucluse; part of Grand Avignon
River setting: On the Rhône’s left bank; the Durance runs along the southern commune boundary

Avignon overview

Avignon is a commune and the prefecture of Vaucluse in southern France’s Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. Its defining role combines departmental administration with a historic urban centre shaped by the Rhône, the medieval papal residence, and surviving defensive walls. Seven successive popes lived there from 1309 to 1377, while papal control lasted until 1791, when the city became part of France during the French Revolution. Today, its civic identity also includes membership in the Grand Avignon intercommunality and a major performing-arts festival.

Official recorded sales

Residential property prices in Avignon

The median recorded residential sale price was €2,378 per m² across 7,918 qualifying transactions in 2021–2025. This is a historical transaction measure, not a live asking price or a valuation.

Apartment median: €2,282/m²
House median: €2,544/m²
Source updated: 2026-07-17

Open the full data analysis and methodology

Avignon coordinates

Avignon is commonly mapped at approximately 43.9486° N, 4.8083° E, or 43.9486, 4.8083 in decimal degrees.

Degrees: 43.9486° N, 4.8083° E

Decimal: 43.9486, 4.8083

Where Avignon is located

The city stands on the left bank of the Rhône, whose course borders its western side. Around the Île de la Barthelasse, the river divides into the Petit Rhône and Grand Rhône; the Durance follows the commune’s southern boundary. This setting places the historic centre between major waterways rather than describing it only through its monuments. The built area retains approximately 4,330 metres of city walls, while the wider commune covers 64.78 square kilometres. Its climate is hot-summer Mediterranean, with the mistral as its strongest characteristic wind.

A departmental capital within Grand Avignon

Avignon functions as the capital of the Vaucluse department and belongs to the Grand Avignon intercommunality.

Its principal contemporary civic function is administrative: it serves as the capital of Vaucluse, one of France’s departments. That role places departmental public administration in the city, while membership in the Grand Avignon intercommunality connects it to a wider structure of local cooperation. The commune is therefore both a city in its own right and part of an intercommunal political geography. The supplied record identifies it as commune code 84007, although the approved Geo API page did not return the commune’s detailed fields because the endpoint produced a “Cache miss.”

A walled centre between the Rhône and Durance

The urban area is organized by a walled historic centre on the Rhône’s left bank, with the Durance marking the southern boundary of the commune.

Water and fortification provide the clearest spatial framework. The Rhône borders the western side and separates into the Petit Rhône and Grand Rhône around the Île de la Barthelasse, while the Durance runs along the southern edge. Inside this setting, approximately 4,330 metres of city walls remain, making the historic centre legible as a bounded urban area. The principal monuments are concentrated there: the Palais des Papes, Avignon Cathedral, and the Pont d’Avignon, also called the Pont Saint-Bénézet.

From papal residence to French commune

The city changed from a papal seat and territory into a French commune during the Revolution.

Seven successive popes resided here between 1309 and 1377, a period known as the Avignon Papacy. Papal control continued beyond the residence of those popes, ending in 1791 when the territory became part of France during the French Revolution. This sequence explains why the historic centre contains a papal palace, an episcopal ensemble, a cathedral, and a bridge associated with the medieval city. Its present civic form thus rests on a political transition from papal control to incorporation into the French state.

Departmental government, papal power, and the arts

Departmental administration, the former papal institutions, and the Festival d’Avignon are the main institutions and organized activities identified in the dossier.

The prefecture gives the city a continuing departmental-government role, while the Palais des Papes, cathedral, and episcopal ensemble preserve the material presence of earlier religious and political authority. A different institution shapes its modern cultural profile: the annual Festival d’Avignon, a major performing-arts festival that contributes significantly to tourism. These elements represent distinct forms of public life rather than one continuous institution—governmental administration, ecclesiastical history, and organized cultural production occupy different periods and functions.

The “City of the Popes” and a protected historic centre

The name “La Cité des Papes” expresses the city’s association with the Avignon Papacy, while UNESCO recognition formalizes the value of its historic ensemble.

The nickname “La Cité des Papes” refers directly to the seven popes who resided here from 1309 to 1377 and to the wider period of papal control. That association is anchored in surviving buildings and urban fabric rather than in a purely symbolic label. Since 1995, the Historic Centre of Avignon—comprising the Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble, and Avignon Bridge—has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The designation links the city’s public identity to a defined group of historic structures.

Avignon facts

France; Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, in the country’s south
Commune and prefecture of Vaucluse; part of Grand Avignon
On the Rhône’s left bank; the Durance runs along the southern commune boundary
92,188 inhabitants in 2023; 64.78 km²
Seven successive popes resided there from 1309 to 1377; papal control ended in 1791
UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, including the Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble, and Avignon Bridge
Residents are Avignonnais; the Occitan form is Avinhon and the Latin form is Avenio