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Origin and history

The Berton des Balbes de Crillon hotel, also known as the Hotel de Crillon, is an emblematic building of Avignon, built between 1648 and 1649 on the initiative of Louis III de Berton (1608–1695), Baron then Duke of Crillon. This colonel-general of the pontifical artillery had the hotel erected at the site of an ancient medieval cardinalry, formerly belonging to Bertrand de Deaux, cardinal and archbishop of Embrun. The works, entrusted to the masons Jean and André Bontoux, followed the plans of the Italian Domenico Borboni, painter and decorator of Bolognese active in Avignon between 1645 and 1663. The richly decorated façade and the "imperial" staircase reflect a late Italian Renaissance style, perceived as out of date for the period.

In 1660, during Louis XIV's stay in Avignon, the Grand Mademoiselle (King's Cousin) stayed there and praised her character "very beautiful, built and painted in Italian". The hotel became a reception place for the French and European aristocracy: the Princess of Conti (1730), the Duke of Richelieu (1744), or the Count of Provence (later Louis XVIII) in 1777. A chapel was added in 1693 by Pierre Thibaut, after the plans of Pierre Mignard. The Barony of Crillon was raised in duchy by Pope Benedict XIII in 1725, consolidating the prestige of the family.

Seized as a good emigrated during the Revolution, the hotel will house the Commission of Inquiry on the massacre of the Glacier (1791) and serve as the office of the cadastre under the Executive Board. Returned to the heirs of the Duke of Crillon-Mahon, he was sold in 1803 to the dealer Deleutre, then bought in 1887 by Félix Théodule de Grammont, descendant of the Berton de Crillon by his mother. The protections for historical monuments (classification of the façade in 1915, staircase and roof in 1932–1951) today preserve this testimony of Italian influence in 17th century Provencal architecture.

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