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Departure from the main entrance of the Parc de la Cantonne, opposite the church. Parking on Place Charles Favier, Avenue du Bon Repos, in Montfavet. The rental station is nearby.
Red line markings
(S/E) Enter the park and head towards the Cantonne residence.
Known since 1819, there is a property called Cantonne. General Cloix, the owner, brought back remarkable trees from his campaigns, including a sequoia. A visit to the arboretum is a must.The estate was occupied by the local Wehrmacht headquarters during the 1939-45 war. The estate was sold to the City of Avignon in 1984 by the Bastide family. Its park was opened to the residents of Montfavétain with its traditional hay festival (end of August). Since 2005, the Alice and Paul Cluchier library has been located on the ground floor of the building.
Leave the park by the opposite exit and follow the street on the left. At the end, opposite No. 219, turn right and continue to a large crossroads with a cross on the left.
(1) Cross with stone base and column, 19th century, erected thanks to donations from parishioners, indicating the direction of the church when coming from Pontet.
Take Chemin de Saint-Ange on the left and continue to the former Dupré factory and Château Saint-Ange on the right.
(2) Former soap factory owned by Mr Dibon. Simon Dupré used to make organic fertiliser here from waste from the silk factory and the Dibon tannery. In 1901, he went into partnership with Amédée Nitard; the factory closed in 1981 and has now been replaced by an organic fertiliser packaging plant. Continue straight ahead for 100 metres.
The history of the Château Saint Ange began in 1789 with Joseph Ignace Commin, second consul of the city of Avignon during the French Revolution. In 1872, the priest Albéric de Foresta established a Jesuit school there and the estate took the name "des Saints-Anges" ( of the Holy Angels). The Grimaud-Meissonnier Institute, dedicated to caring for "abnormal children", occupied it from 1900 onwards. In 1921, Abbé Jean-Baptiste Fouque took over this highly developed and still diverse work. The Espace Métaxian has organised an exhibition on the I.M.E. (Medical Institute for Children).
Turn around and look to your right for a large private property with a tower.
The Tour d'Espagne was founded by the Bishop of Barrosso, Co-Legate of Cardinal Bertrand de Montfavet, whose coat of arms is carved and painted in the tower. It is all that remains of the beautiful Dominican convent of Saint-Praxede in 1348.
Over the centuries, the white cut stones were dismantled to be used for other buildings in the surrounding area, including the Domaine des Ombrages on the road to Avignon.
Named after Pedro Gomez de Barrosso, the Cardinal of Spain. The nuns abandoned the site in 1398.
Continue to the large crossroads with a cross.
(1) Continue opposite, along Chemin de la Préfète, and note the Château de la Préfète on the right at number 122.
La Préfète, built in 1869, was inhabited by several owners, including the prefect Marie Louis Assiot in 1885. It was home to the Roux family ("le Christ de Montfavet") from 1933 onwards.
Continue and then turn quickly left onto Rue du Père Fouques, cross the Lotissement de la Jarretière housing estate and, at the end, turn left and continue to a four-way intersection. Turn right and you will reach Allée des Chênes on your right.
(3) Take this road and pass in front of the INRAE (National Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research).
INRAE, the agricultural research centre, created in 1958, is located in Montfavet and has two sites: Saint-Maurice and Saint-Paul.
Continue until you reach No. 257, the entrance to Château Brignan.
Edmond Alphandéry settled at Château Brignan and, in 1892, became a remarkable beekeeper. He created La Gazette Apicole, a link between all beekeepers, and left behind a considerable body of work written by himself.
His son, Georges Alphandéry, took over La Gazette Apicole at the age of nineteen, and it went on to become a world-renowned publication. After the destructive German occupation, he began rebuilding the business. In collaboration with his brother Raoul, he developed what is now known as "Les Établissements Alphandéry". Many famous figures contributed to the Gazette or corresponded with it, including Rudyard Kipling, Colette, Paul Claudel, René Char, Raymond Poincaré, André Tardieu, Tristan Bernard, Jean Giono, Albert Schweitzer and Marguerite Yourcenar, to name but a few.
Continueto the four-way intersection. Just before it, take the gravel lane that runs alongside the road and turn right at the next intersection (Chemin de la Tapy). Follow this road to the end and turn left (Chemin de la Verdière
(4). At the roundabout, continue straight ahead until you reach the Monastère Sainte-Claire
(5) .The Monastery of Sainte-Claire welcomes the Poor Clares who came to Avignon around 1230 and migrated to Montfavet. The entire history of Sainte-Claire is closely linked to that of Saint Francis of Assisi. On 29 November 1941, the first six Poor Clares arrived at La Verdière, an estate that Marie Élise Colinet, widow of Clouseau, had bequeathed to the Franciscans. Monsignor De Llobet, Archbishop of Avignon, welcomed them there. The chapel is dedicated to Our Lady of Miracles.
The monastery underwent expansion work in 1956, with the chapel being opened for religious services.
Turn around and return to the roundabout you passed earlier.
(4) Turn left onto Avenue Louis Bicheron and continue to the roundabout.
Note the "Callamand" cedar tree on the left . The family of an Avignon merchant, they had this as their second home. Odette Callamand, a renowned scientist and great protector of nature and the identity of Montfavet, saved her listed cedar tree. Now a housing development has been built around the cedar tree, with the family home on the left.
Continue right onto Rue du Collège Alphonse Tavan, then left onto Chemin de la Martelle. At the end, turn right and continue to a roundabout and a wooden cross.
Erected in the 19th century, at the bottom, note an engraving on marble with the text "Salut O Croix notre unique espoir" (Hail, O Cross, our only hope). Restored in 1938, it indicates the direction of the church when coming from Morières-les-Avignon.
(6) Continue straight ahead, then turn right onto Rue du Marquis de la Palun and walk to the École Saint-Joseph and back.
This Catholic school was probably named in memory of Mother Fouillat Saint-Joseph, the Mother Superior in Avignon who sent nuns to Montfavet to found the school in 1902. It was a girls' school until the 1970s and is now co-educational.
On your way back, continue right to Boulevard des Écoles and the École de Musique (music school) and the Maison des Associations (community centre).
The Seytour Building was a mansion bought by a Catholic congregation to educate young girls. The two niches on the façade depicting the Virgin Mary bear witness to this. Under the Jules Ferry law of 1881-1882, which made school attendance compulsory, it was secularised by prefectural decree in 1891. The building was acquired by the City in 1891.
Turn left onto Boulevard des Écoles and arrive at the newly landscaped area created with the École Publique des Vertes Rives.
Opened in 1955 by the Mayor of Avignon, Édouard Daladier, it brings together boys and girls in nursery and primary school.
Continue and, at the four-way intersection, turn left onto the cul-de-sac, Avenue Monloisir. Walk along the stadium and note a chapelbehind the stadium on the path located on private property. Continue straight ahead until the end of Rue des Peupliers.
(7) François Bourrelly housing estate: a public workscontractor , he started his own business, took an interest in local life and had the War Memorial erected. Among other works, he built "Le Dominium" on Boulevard Raspail in Avignon, which became the Social Security office, and the "Grand Hôtel du Roy René" in Aix-en-Provence. He also had 14 villas built for his staff. Today, the housing estate is inhabited by owners and tenants.
Continue to the right, pass under the railway bridge and turn immediately right onto Rue de la Massette.
Note the house on the left, which now houses a Montésouris school. It used to be the PASQUERO factory, which manufactured ice cream cones. It was a huge market shared by three factories in France. During the season, 150,000 were manufactured in Montfavet. Faced with strong competition from Spain, the factory had to close in 1985.
Continue straight ahead to the end of Rue des Galoubets.
(8) Turn right, go under the railway bridge and turn right onto Chemin de la Gare until you reach the SNCF train station.
Opened in 1868 by the PLM railway company, it served the Avignon-Marseille regional line. It was inaugurated by Napoleon III, President of the Republic. A tank exploded here in the 1950s.
Turn left onto Rue du Docteur Roger Maestracci and continue until you reach the park entrance.
(9) Campagne SEGUIN: an association created in 1935, the Association des Œuvres Paroissiales de Montfavet (AOP) owns the Campagne Seguin following a donation from Melle Calman. In 1944, German troops blew up the building, which was rebuilt in 1949. In 1962, it took in 40 Algerian orphans led by nuns. Renovated in 2012, the parish fair in June is a time for many Montfavétains to get together, regardless of their political or religious beliefs or social class. It is the most popular festival along with the hay festival.
Turn around and go back to the crossroads just after passing under the railway bridge.
(8) Continue straight ahead, then turn right onto Chemin du Cimetière and you will soon reach the Canal de l'Hôpital.
Also known as the Canal de la Durançole, it is the oldest canal in the Avignon plain. The water comes from the Durance river. Built in the 13th century to supply two mills for grinding wheat, in the 18th century it was recognised for its role in supplying water to the hospital.
(10) At the roundabout, go straight ahead and enter the cemetery.
Note the stele of Camille Claudel, a sculptor who was interned at the Montfavet Hospital for 30 years in square 15. The tombs of Baron Louis Duplessis de Pouzilhac, mayor of Avignon from 1819 to 1820 and advisor to the Court of Auditors of the Dauphiné, General Henri Cloix, owner of La Cantonne, and Frédéric Bourrélly, owner of the Edmond Alphandery construction company and famous beekeeper.
Leave the cemetery and return to the roundabout.
(10) Turn left and walk along the cemetery wall on your left. Go under the railway bridge, then turn right. Follow the road (Avenue des Souspirous) to the end, then turn left into Impasse Cours Pernod and you will reach the old wash house.
Located in the Cour Pernod, it was reserved for residents of the Citée Pernod. At the back is the former Pernod factory where pastis was created. Jules François Pernod acquired the factory from the Foulc family in 1871. Following the end of madder production, the mill was converted into a distillery. Between 1854 and 1915, absinthe production became the Pernod company's speciality. Following the ban on absinthe, his son, Jules Félix, developed the famous aniseed-based aperitif "Le Pernod" in 1918. The Montfavet factory ceased production in 1924 and was sold to the Guillon Company for silk thread winding. In 1943, a dairy, Société Scalacta, set up shop thanks to the many dairy farmers in the Montfavet basin. The business closed in 1975 and the buildings were demolished. Today, the site is home to the CCAS Départemental et d'Avignon (Avignon Departmental Social Action Centre).
(11) Go up the stairs on the right and take the cross street. Follow it to the left (Rue des Paroissiens) and you will reach the church.
(12) To the left of the entrance, inside the church, is a porch that was the entrance to the monastery in the 14th century. A staircase leads up to the floor that housed the boys' school in the early 20th century. A poet, Alice Cluchier, had her apartment here; she had been a teacher at this school.
The church was built according to the wishes of Cardinal Bertrand de Montfavet upon his death in 1342 (born around 1270 in Castelnau-Montratier in Quercy). This monastery was built by the Bertrand and Pierre Folcoaud brothers on the land of Cardinal Bertrand de Montfavet between 1343 and 1347. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the building took the name of Notre-Dame de Bon Repos.
A Gothic-style church, it became a parish church after the Revolution of 1789. It lost its original bell tower, which was replaced during the Second Empire by another in the Neo-Gothic style. It had two clocks. In 1832, the pyramidal bell tower was destroyed to install a Chappe telegraph, which was itself dismantled following the invention of the electric telegraph.
De Cohorn Pierre, a Swedish nobleman, chamberlain and army chief of King ChristianI, was exiled to Montfavet, where he died in 1479. His tombstone can be found in the Church of Notre-Dame de Bon Repos in thefirst chapel on the north side.
War memorial: after the First World War, it was decided to create a memorial to the soldiers who died for France. A committee was set up for this purpose, with funding to be provided by public subscription. The sculptor Marius Saïn was chosen for this work, which was erected near the church. It was inaugurated on 1 August 1920. Frédéric Bourrely was an active member of the committee.
Go to the corner opposite the church and take Rue du 14 Juillet. A little further on, turn left towards the town hall annexe.
Formerly Château Schilizzi, then Bollack, this building served as a nursery and then a school for girls in 1948. The château became the Montfavet Town Hall Annex in 1956.
Nearby is the Espace Métaxian, a house built by André Boudoy, architect of Charles Garnier's Opéra Théâtre de Paris. It is now a municipal exhibition space managed by the association Les Amis de l'Espace Métaxian since 2017.
Go around the town hall on the left and head to the main entrance of the Parc de la Cantonne (S/E).
