Chapel of Saint Nicholas at the Pont d’Avignon
The Pont d’Avignon is one of the most recognizable landmarks here in the medieval city of Avignon. The bridge almost crosses the river and then abruptly stops. Arguably, it is probably because the bridge is incomplete that it is that well known. Looking at the river right now, it probably doesn’t look like it was that dangerous. Indeed it isn’t, however back then, the current was much stronger than it is right now. These days the flow of the river is controlled upstream so that it doesn’t flood that much anymore. Back then, the river was strong enough to regularly bring down part of the bridge.
Inside the Chapel of Saint Nicholas at Pont d’Avignon
Apart from the fact that the bridge abruptly stops, the Pont d’Avignon is also notable in that there is a chapel which is built on the bridge. The chapel of Saint Nicholas is a chapel which is built directly on the bridge. It was a rather strange location to be putting the chapel. I don’t see the chapel being a very popular one since there is a much larger cathedral in town. The chapel is a bit in an awkward location since it eats up quite a large portion of the bridge itself. Boatmen of the Rhône would come here to worship, however this was also abandoned since the bridge was becoming unstable.
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