Cloître des Célestins

The cloister of the Celestine monastery in Avignon features a narrow, rectangular courtyard enclosed by high, weathered stone walls that once held silence for a community of monks. Founded by Pope Urban the Fifth in thirteen ninety-three, the site served as a royal necropolis where the remains of kings and princes rested. During the revolution, the monks were dispersed and the heavy lead coffins were melted down, leaving behind only the stark architectural bones of the courtyard you see today.