In the heart of Provence and steps from the palace where seven Popes once reigned, La Mirande is a time capsule of centuries of French decorative arts β all in an unmistakably luxurious hotel. Find our Inspection team's official review of La Mirande here. Below, one writer shares his personal experience exploring the historical associations that make this one of the most unique hotels in the world.
For me, a Parisian writer more fascinated by old stones than anything in our modern world, a night in Hotel La Mirande β my reason for visiting Avignon one night this spring β is a chance to live out a historic fantasy. It takes just under three hours on a high speed train from Paris to find yourself in front of the superb 17th-century facade, the work of the great classical architect Pierre Mignard. Called the Palais des Papes, this glorious white fortress is the 14th-century headquarters from which the Avignon Popes once ruled Western Christendom.
The history of La Mirande is entwined with that of this miraculous palace. Stepping into the hotel, I walk through an arched doorway into a lobby almost overrun with 18th-century rococo armchairs and benches, all framed by heavy curtains and dangling chandeliers.
Baroque candelabras flicker, lit, under gilded mirrors as I spot Francis Lacoste, the manager of this hotel, standing under a magnificently woven Aubusson tapestry.
The building was partly destroyed during a siege in , and then rebuilt a couple hundred years later. In the s, a wealthy Avignon family moved in, using the house as a base from which to entertain their friends in high society. Its that latter era that a painstaking, spare-no-expense renovation of Hotel La Mirande sought to capture. The hoteliers achieved it with admirable aplomb. Cotton fabrics in historic style line the walls, and each of the 26 rooms sports a collection of antique furniture: period appropriate bedside and dressing tables, chests of drawers and little wooden desks, all hunted down over many years before finding their places at the hotel.
