116 Perpignan, France, Notre Dame la Real

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The parish the church is named after was founded by James II, King of Majorca, before the island was known as a beach resort, when it was a fairly short-lived kingdom which was meant to include Montpellier.

Inaugurated in 1321, this is a church linked to those interesting times when there was more than one pope : the last of the Avignon popes, who were opposed to the popes of Rome, convened a council here from November 1408 to March 1409 (Avignon is only two and a half hours up the motorway from here).

During the French revolution it was used as an armoury, and the Church got it back in 1803.

 Beautiful statue scene of Jesus getting baptized, fine pulpit. Classy-looking confessional kind of carved into the wall. And another, rather well-known, « laying in the tomb » group of statues.











































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