Halles d'Avignon, Indoor market hall in central Avignon, France

The Halles d'Avignon is a covered market hall on Place Pie, in the Avignon Centre district, with about fifty traders selling bread, cheeses, fruit, vegetables, poultry, pastries, olives, shellfish and flowers. Its north facade carries a 600 m² living wall by Patrick Blanc, 30 m long and 11.50 m high, planted with twenty species per square metre. Below the vegetation, dark glazed shopfronts sit under a narrow canopy.

A first covered hall was planned on Place Pie after the heretic Parpaille was executed and his house razed in 1562; it was finished in 1624. Jean-Baptiste Franque built a replacement between 1760 and 1764, demolished under the Second Empire. The present hall, by the Gabelle workshops of Marseille, was inaugurated on 25 September 1899; the living wall by Patrick Blanc was added in 2005.

The market serves as a gathering place where local residents and visitors meet to shop and exchange news over regional products. It reflects daily life in Avignon, where people plan meals and artisans demonstrate their craft.

The hall sits on Place Pie, entered from the north side beneath the planted facade; the market floor is flat and step-free. The Vieux-Sextier street, opened by Jean-Baptiste Franque between 1749 and 1754, leads to it from the north. Look for the surviving butcher's facade at no. 22, decorated with cattle and sheep heads.

The northern wall is covered with a living garden that grows dozens of plant species across a narrow strip of facade. This green covering adapts to the sunny conditions of southern France and creates a contrast to the traditional market appearance.