Notre Dame des Doms, Avignon

Cathédrale Notre-Dame des Doms d'Avignon is better known as the Cathedral of Avignon. The Cathedral is Roman Catholi is a Roman Catholic cathedral a national monument of France. The CAthedral sits high above the Palais des Papes and is the seat of the Archbishop of Avignon.

The Romaneque building is quite beautiful and has a striking cross in the front of the cathedral. The guilded statue of Mary is a big attraction of visitors to the western tower. The cathedral is beautiful and a dominant figure of the square. The Cathedral perched high above the Palais gives a "God is Watching You" feeling....maybe that was the reasoning behind the location.

Notre Dame des Doms started out as a monument of Roman Provencal art and after many transformations and renovations, it has become an imposing and richly ornate building. The statue of the Virgin is 6 metres high, weighing in at 4 and a half tons.
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See the awesome Painting of Jesus here at the Notre Dame des Domes (read: Cathedral). Beautiful art work indeed! There are quite a handful of interesting museums here.... Let me try and name some of them:
Musée Calvet. This is a small 18th century mansion containing classical and modern art, Greek sculptures and a local prehistorical collection. Very nice!

(1) Musée Lapidaire. Situated inside the chapel of a 17th century Jesuit College. It contains a collection of stone carvings and sculptures from the different civilizations.

Address: Rue de la République.

Open: Daily except Tue, 10AM to 7PM.

(2) Musée Louis Vouland. Decorative arts.... especially for 18th century French furnishings, porcelain and tapestries.

(3) Musée Requien. A large worldwide collection of herbarium; local botanical, geological and zoological collections. It also has an excellent natural history library.

(4) Musée Théodore Aubanel. Printing implements and methods, and rare editions and documents about Avignon from the 13th to 20th centuries.