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          Avignon 
          
          City, S France, capital of Vaucluse Department, on the Rhône R. It is 
          a wine-trade and manufacturing center, producing processed food, 
          leather, textiles, soaps, and chemicals. The University Center of 
          Avignon (1973) is here.  
           
          Places of interest within the lovely city include a huge 14th-century 
          palace that once served as a residence and fortress of the popes. The 
          beautiful Gothic Basilica of Saint Peter (14th cent.) and the 
          Cathedral of Notre Dame des Doms (12th cent.) are nearby, and just N 
          of the palace on rocky heights overlooking the Rhône R., are several 
          public gardens. Only a fragment of the bridge of Saint Bénézet (12th 
          cent.) remains, but the city still retains its massive 14th-century 
          ramparts, which were only slightly damaged during World War II.  
           
          From 1309 to 1377, the period often referred to as the Babylonian 
          captivity of the popes, Avignon served as the seat of the papal court, 
          and from 1378 to 1408 the city was the residence of several of the 
          antipopes. In 1475 it was made an archiepiscopal see, and it 
          subsequently became a flourishing commercial center. During this 
          period, even though Avignon was part of the Papal States and was 
          nominally ruled by legates, the citizens were in reality free to 
          govern themselves. The papacy lost the city, however, during the 
          French Revolution, when Avignon was incorporated by plebiscite into 
          France in 1791. Pop. (1990) 89,440.  
            
          
            
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