The Great Chapel

The Great Chapel, which is devoted to the two apostles, Peter and Paul, was built by Clement VI. Despite the spread of the Black Feath in 1348, it ook less than 4 years to complete it.

The single nave is 52 metres long, 15 metres wide and 20 metres tall. It is covered by seven vaulted bays with pointed arches, whose ribs descend onto slim columns. It is lit by four central millioned windows in the south, and by two double mullioned bay windows on each of the gabled walls. Before the installation of the stained glass windows, ordered from a master glassmaker in Avignon, the windows were covered with orlcloth stretched on wooden frames, which Mattei Giovanetti embellished with red, yellow and green arabesques.

The first three bays make up the choir ; the altar is situated in the first bay, and the Pope’s Cathedra stood under a golden canopy in the second. Green hangings decorated with red roses were hung on the walls ;rugs and mats covered the floors.
The cardinals and twelve cantors occupied the third bay. They were separated from the faithful by a barrier called Chancel.