Avignon


Avignon is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the commune has a population of 92,188, with about 16,000 living in the ancient town centre enclosed by its medieval walls. The Communauté d'agglomération du Grand Avignon, a cooperation structure of 16 communes, had 197,102 inhabitants in 2022.
Avignon is France's 35th-largest metropolitan area according to INSEE with 337,039 inhabitants, and France's 13th-largest urban unit with 459,533 inhabitants. Its urban area was the fastest-growing in France from 1999 until 2010 with an increase of 76% of its population and an area increase of 136%.
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 city is now the capital of the Vaucluse department and one of the few French cities to have preserved its city walls. This is why Avignon is also known as 'La Cité des Papes.
The historic centre, which includes the Palais des Papes, Avignon Cathedral and the Pont d'Avignon, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 because of its architecture and importance during the 14th and 15th centuries. The medieval monuments and the annual Festival d'Avignonone of the world's largest festivals for performing artshave helped to make the town a major centre for tourism.

Toponymy

The earliest forms of the name were reported by the Greeks: Аὐενιὼν Aueniṑn and Άουεννίων Aouenníōn.
The Roman name Avennĭo Cavărum, i.e. "Avignon of Cavares", accurately shows that Avignon was one of the three cities of the Celtic-Ligurian tribe of Cavares, along with Cavaillon and Orange.
The current name dates to a pre-Indo-European or pre-Latin theme ab-ên with the suffix -i-ōn. This theme would be a hydronym—i.e. a name linked to the river, but perhaps also an oronym of terrain.
The Auenion of the 1st century BC was Latinized to Avennĭo, -ōnis in the 1st century and is written Avinhon in classic Occitan spelling or Avignoun in Mistralian spelling. The inhabitants of the commune are called avinhonencs or avignounen in both standard Occitan and Provençal dialect.

History

Geography

Avignon is on the left bank of the Rhône river, a few kilometres above its confluence with the Durance, about south-east of Paris, south of Lyon and north-north-west of Marseille. On the west it shares a border with the department of Gard and the communes of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Les Angles and to the south it borders the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and the communes of Barbentane, Rognonas, Châteaurenard, and Noves.
The city is in the vicinity of Orange, Carpentras, Salon-de-Provence, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, Arles, Nîmes and Montpellier. Directly contiguous to the east and north are the communes of Caumont-sur-Durance, Morières-lès-Avignon, Le Pontet, and Sorgues.

Geology and terrain

The region around Avignon is very rich in limestone which is used for building material. For example, the current city walls, measuring 4,330 metres long, were built with the soft limestone abundant in the region called mollasse burdigalienne.
Enclosed by the city walls, the Rocher des Doms is a limestone elevation of Urgonian type, 35 metres high and is the original core of the city. Several limestone massifs are present around the commune and they are partly the result of the oceanisation of the Ligurian-Provençal basin following the migration of the Sardo-Corsican block.
The other significant elevation in the commune is the Montfavet Hill—a wooded hill in the east of the commune.
The Rhone Valley is an old alluvial zone: loose deposits cover much of the ground. It consists of sandy alluvium more or less coloured with pebbles consisting mainly of siliceous rocks. The islands in the Rhone, such as the Île de la Barthelasse, were created by the accumulation of alluvial deposits and also by the work of man. The relief is quite low despite the creation of mounds allowing local protection from flooding.
In the land around the city there are clay, silt, sand, and limestone present.

Hydrography

The Rhone passes the western edge of the city, but is divided into two branches: the Petit Rhône, or "dead arm", for the part that passes next to Avignon and the Grand Rhône, or "live arm", for the western channel which passes Villeneuve-lès-Avignon in the Gard department. The two branches are separated by an island, the Île de la Barthelasse. The southernmost tip of the Île de la Barthelasse once formed of a separated island, the L'Île de Piot.
The banks of the Rhone and the Île de la Barthelasse are often subject to flooding during autumn and March. The publication Floods in France since the 6th century until today – research and documentation by Maurice Champion tells about a number of them. They have never really stopped as shown by the floods in 1943–1944 and again on 23 January 1955 and remain important today—such as the floods of 2 December 2003. As a result, a new risk mapping has been developed.
The Durance flows along the southern boundary of the commune into the Rhone and marks the departmental boundary with Bouches-du-Rhône. It is a river that is considered "capricious" and once feared for its floods (it was once called the "3rd scourge of Provence" as well as for its low water: the Durance has both Alpine and Mediterranean morphology which is unusual.
There are many natural and artificial water lakes in the commune such as the Lake of Saint-Chamand east of the city.

Artificial diversions

There have been many diversions throughout the course of history, such as feeding the moat surrounding Avignon or irrigating crops.
In the 10th century part of the waters from the Sorgue d'Entraigues were diverted and today pass under the walls to enter the city.. This watercourse is called the Vaucluse Canal but Avignon people still call it the Sorgue or Sorguette. It is visible in the city in the Rue des teinturiers. It fed the moat around the first defensive walls then fed the moat on the newer eastern city walls. In the 13th century part of the waters of the Durance were diverted to increase the water available for the moats starting from Bonpas. This river was later called the Durançole. The Durançole fed the western moats of the city and was also used to irrigate crops at Montfavet. In the city, these streams are often hidden beneath the streets and houses and are currently used to collect sewerage.
The Hospital Canal and the Crillon Canal were dug to irrigate the territories of Montfavet, Pontet, and Vedène. They were divided into numerous "fioles" or "filioles". Similarly, to irrigate the gardens of the wealthy south of Avignon, the Puy Canal was dug. All of these canals took their water from the Durance. These canals were initially used to flood the land, which was very stony, to fertilize them by deposition of silt.
All of these canals have been used to operate many mills.

Seismicity

Under the new seismic zoning of France defined in Decree No. 2010-1255 of 22 October 2010 concerning the delimitation of the seismicity of the French territory and which entered into force on 1 May 2011, Avignon is located in an area of moderate seismicity. The previous zoning is shown below for reference.
"The cantons of Bonnieux, Apt, Cadenet, Cavaillon, and Pertuis are classified in zone Ib. All other cantons the Vaucluse department, including Avignon, are classified Ia. This zoning is for exceptional seismicity resulting in the destruction of buildings."
The presence of faults in the limestone substrate shows that significant tectonic shift has caused earthquakes in different geological ages. The last major earthquake of significant magnitude was on 11 June 1909. It left a visible trace in the centre of the city since the bell tower of the Augustinians, which is surmounted by an ancient campanile of wrought iron, located in Rue Carreterie, remained slightly leaning as a result of this earthquake.

Climate

Avignon has a hot-summer mediterranean climate, though the dry-summer effect is not as strong as coastal locations like Marseille due to its more sheltered inland location. The city experiences mild-cool winters and hot summers, with moderate rainfall year-round. The city is often subject to windy weather; the strongest wind is the mistral. A medieval Latin proverb said of the city: Avenie ventosa, sine vento venenosa, cum vento fastidiosa.
The record temperature record since the existence of the weather station at Orange is 42.8 °C on 28 June 2019 and the record lowest was −14.5 °C on 2 February 1956.

The mistral

The prevailing wind is the mistral for which the windspeed can be beyond 110 km/h. It blows between 120 and 160 days per year with an average speed of 90 km/h in gusts. The following table shows the different speeds of the mistral recorded by Orange and Carpentras Serres stations in the southern Rhone valley and its frequency in 2006. Normal corresponds to the average of the last 53 years from Orange weather reports and that of the last 42 at Carpentras.
Legend: "=" same as normal; "+" higher than normal; "-" lower than normal
Jan.Feb.Mar.Apr.May.Jun.Jul.Aug.Sep.Oct.Nov.Dec.
Maximum recorded speed by month10612711997941449090908791118
Tendency: Days with speed
--+++---++++++++==+++++---=++