The Pope's front door.

The main gateway of the Pope's Palace in Avignon.

It dates from the 14th century, a time when the popes were uncompromising in the hunt for heresy and for money. The most famous of them, Benedict XII, not only exterminated the last vestiges of the Cathar religion, but erected Europe's most sophisticated system of taxation and fiscal administration. He fought too against the more spiritual elements of his own church, who were dismayed by his dedication to the bottom-line.

I've always thought the bleakly aggressive architecture of Avignon well reflected that least sympathetic of popes. No one approaching the gateway could possibly construe it as welcoming.