Avignon chapel up for sale - on Ebay
They say you can sell anything on the internet - but a XVc chapel in the heart of Avignon? As John McEnroe used to say, "You cannot be serious." In fact, the present owner, who had intended to live in it himself but changed his mind, is entirely serious - to the extent of putting it up for auction on the online shop Ebay for a suggested ?790,000.The property in question is the chapelle Saint-Geniès, on rue Bonnetier in the pedestrianised area near the Palais des Papes. Its 355m2 consist of a 170m2 hall, whose 8m-high ceilings are surmounted by a 12m glazed dome, and two separate flatlets. Built in 1452 as one of five chapels used by the Popes in their Avignon days, it was rebuilt in 1737 (when the cupola was added). Since then it has had a chequered career, being used successively as a hospital, an armaments store, a court at the time of the Revolution, a stock exchange, a chamber of commerce and even a tourist office.The announcement of the sale has been greeted with derision by local estate agents, who comment that the French wouldn't even buy a car online, let alone a unique property, adding that only Americans would contemplate such a purchase. This view seems to be confirmed by the fact that, to date, no bids have appeared on the website and the only expression of interest has come from one Pinky Diablo, an eccentric American artist, who wants to paint it pink and establish it as a new papal palace with himself as pope under the title of Pinkus the First. He proposes to ask his fans to raise the price by contributing one dollar each - though whether his popularity is sufficient to generate the US price of $990,000 remains to be seen.
