(The Consistory Hall)

The Consistory Hall occupies the ground floor of the East Wing of the cloister.
The fire that broke out in 1413 destroyed the original ceiling and decor.

On the east side, four windows were built into the wall which look out onto the gardens below. A narrower, taller bay window sheds light on the dais which stand against the Southern wall. This is where the Pope would sit, clothed in his consistorial habit. The assembly would sit on wood-panelled stone benches, which once lined the walls and have now disappeared.
The hall was used as a tribunal and audience.

The Consistory was a regular assembly during which the Pope would receive visitors and deliberate on major Church matters, be they ecclesiastic, theological, legal or political. The meetings were held either in the presence of cardinals only, i.e. the secret or ordinary consistories, or in the presence of cardinals and church or lay dignitaries, i.e. the public or extraordinary consistories. It is here that canonisations were examined and proclaimed, such as that of Saint Brigitte of Sweden.

The Consistory was also where the Pope received sovereigns, legates and ambassadors of all nations.
It was here that Clement VI greeted the famous Queen Joan of Naples, Countess of Provence and her cousin, Louis of Toronto, whom she married in 1347.
Accused of being privy to the murder of her husband, Andrew of Hungary, she took refuge in Provence and came to plead her cause before the Holy Father.
In order to secure funds to recapture her kingdom, she sold the city of Avignon to the papacy for 80,000 florins in 1348.

On the west side, Simone Martini's frescoes from Notre-Dame-des-Doms are presented.