Avignon, South-Eastern France - The Host City.

Avignon, is one of the most beautiful and famous cities in France and well-known around the world thanks to the famous song about the bridge of Avignon. Its beautiful and typically medieval city centre on both banks of the Rhône river attracts millions of tourists each year. Avignon in Southeastern France, provides an ideal destination for SER European conference delegates. Located within Mediterranean global biodiversity hotspot, Avignon is the centre for one of the major national restoration initiative: the restoration of 360 ha of Mediterranean Steppe. The conference will provide an international focus for the world-class restoration issues and initiatives underway in South-Eastern France while exposing SER European delegates to their first meeting in the Mediterranean Basin global biodiversity hotspot, world-renowned for its unique flora and fauna with a high level of species endemism, and acknowledged to support around 75% of France’s rich plant life. The south-Eastern part of France, The Provence region boasts the greatest plant diversity in France with very ancient landscapes.

Named the City of the Popes or Altera Roma, Avignon retains the indelible mark of the Popes’ stay in the city, which was for a while the capital of the Medieval western world. Today, it is a prestigious cultural capital with its world-renowned Theatre Festival. Within a short time, the tourist can visit the most various sites: Pont du Gard, Nîmes, Arles, the Camargue, Luberon and Ventoux, Baux de Provence, St Rémy and the Alpilles are close to the town. The variety of attractions and sites to visit can enrich your trip to Provence. The era of the Popes somewhat eclipses other events in what is a long and tumultuous history. At the crossroads of the big trade and migratory routes between northern and southern Europe and between Italy and Spain, the city played a major role in European history. A Phoenician trading post during the High Antiquity, Avignon then became a flourishing Roman town. It suffered greatly from the barbarian invasions, followed by those of the Moors and the Francs in the High Middle Ages. With the expansion of trade, and benefiting from its strategic position and its bridge over the Rhône, it had the status of a free town, strong and arrogant enough to defy the King of France. The presence of the Popes made Avignon the capital of the Medieval western world in the 14th century. A papal territory up until the French Revolution, the city actually benefited little from the first Industrial Revolution. It entered into relative anonymity in the 19th century only to come back as a cultural capital in the 20th century. Avignon is the cradle of the Félibrige, a revival of Provençal literature and its Theatre Festival, started in 1946 by Jean Vilar, gives it international prestige.

Surnommée "Cité des Papes" ou "Altera Roma", Avignon conserve l'empreinte inaltérable du séjour des Papes dans la ville qui fut pendant quelques temps la capitale de l'Occident médiéval. Elle est aujourd'hui une capitale culturelle rayonnante avec son Festival de Théâtre reconnu mondialement. En peu de temps, le visiteur peut se rendre dans les sites les plus variés : pont du Gard, Nîmes, Arles, La Camargue, Lubéron et Ventoux, Baux de Provence, St Rémy et les Alpilles sont aux portes de la ville. La variété des attractions et des sites à visiter peuvent enrichir encore votre voyage en Provence. L'époque des Papes éclipse quelque peu les autres événements d'une histoire longue et tumultueuse. Au croisement des grandes routes commerciales et migratoires entre Europe du Nord et du Sud et entre l'Italie et l'Espagne, la cité joua un rôle majeur dans l'histoire européenne. Comptoir commercial massaliote pendant la haute antiquité, elle devient une ville romaine florissante. Elle fut ensuite durement éprouvée par les invasions barbares, puis par les arabes et les francs au haut moyen-âge. Avec l'essor du commerce, elle profitant de sa position stratégique et de son pont sur le Rhône, elle fut une commune libre, assez puissante et arrogante pour défier le Roi de France. L'installation des Papes en fit la capitale de l'Occident médiéval au XVe siècle. Territoire papal jusqu'à la Révolution, la ville profita peu de la première révolution industrielle. Elle rentre dans un relatif anonymat au XIXe siècle pour renaître comme une capitale culturelle au XXe. Elle est le berceau du félibrige, renouveau littéraire provençal et son Festival de Théâtre, créé en 1946 par Jean Vilar lui confère un rayonnement international.