Avignon

Sister cities

• Guanajuato
• New Haven
• Tarragona
• Tortosa
• Wetzlar
• Siena
• Orvieto
• Diourbel
• Diourbel Region
• Alcañiz
• Colchester
• Ioannina

Geography

Avignon is on the left bank of the Rhône river, a few kilometres above its confluence with the Durance, about south-east of Paris, south of Lyon and north-north-west of Marseille. On the west it shares a border with the department of Gard and the communes of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and Les Angles and to the south it borders the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and the communes of Barbentane, Rognonas, Châteaurenard, and Noves. The city is in the vicinity of Orange (north), Carpentras (north-east), Salon-de-Provence, Aix-en-Provence, Marseille (all south-east), Arles (south), Nîmes and Montpellier (both south-west). Directly contiguous to the east and north are the communes of Caumont-sur-Durance, Morières-lès-Avignon, Le Pontet, and Sorgues. The region around Avignon is very rich in limestone which is used for building material. For example, the current city walls, measuring 4,330 metres long, were built with the soft limestone abundant in the region called mollasse burdigalienne. Enclosed by the city walls, the Rocher des Doms is a limestone elevation of Urgonian type, 35 metres high (and therefore safe from flooding of the Rhone which it overlooks) and is the original core of the city. Several limestone massifs are present around the commune (the Massif des Angles, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, Alpilles...) and they are partly the result of the oceanisation of the Ligurian-Provençal basin following the migration of the Sardo-Corsican block. The banks of the Rhone and the Île de la Barthelasse are often subject to flooding during autumn and March. The publication Floods in France since the 6th century until today – research and documentation by Maurice Champion tells about a number of them (until 1862, the flood of 1856 was one of the largest, which destroyed part of…

Most-observed species

• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,377
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,257
• Eurasian Blackcap

  Sylvia atricapilla (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,217
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,197
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,990
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,865
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,816
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,767

Most recent

• M 4.8 — 2019-11-11
  5 km WNW of Rochemaure, France
• M 4.3 — 2011-08-03
  4 km ESE of Barjac, France
• M 2.5 — 2008-12-23
  4 km ENE of Éguilles, France
• M 2.8 — 2008-11-25
  2 km N of Malataverne, France
• M 2.5 — 2008-01-22
  4 km NW of Cruas, France
• M 2.6 — 2007-08-03
  1 km NE of Jonquières-Saint-Vincent, France