Calvet museum

This is Avignon’s number-one museum, the Musée Calvet. The building is but a remarkable 18th-century mansion, built by Joseph-Ignace de Villeneuve, first consul of Avignon; and let me tell you, he spared no expense in the process. It has housed the museum’s rich collection since 1833. Inside, you’ll find paintings, sculptures, decorative pieces – everything from fine arts and Art Nouveau to archaeology and ethnography. The museum is named after Esprit Calvet, a great art collector who donated his collection to the city for public display. Thanks to him, you can venture inside and marvel at masterpieces from France, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as works from the Avignon School of late Gothic painting. Right next door, you’ll find the Requien Museum of Natural History. Behind you, is yet another imposing building. It’s the Hôtel des Taillades, also a former mansion, built in 1710. Its façade is listed as a historical monument, as is, of course, the building housing the Calvet Museum.