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One of the most priced and well known museum in Avignon is Theodore Aubanel Museum . To understand the exhibits, one must know something about its owner. The museum is named after Theodore Aubanel who was very celebrated in his own field. Theodore Aubanel was the brother of Charles and Joseph and was born in Avignon in 1829 AD. His birth place no longer exists with the opening of the rue de la Republique . The house also had a printing and publishing house founded by the grandfather of Theodore Aubanel. Le Felibre was founded by seven young poets, Theodore Aubanel being one of them. The other poets were Jean Brunet, Paul Giera, Anselme Mathieu, Frederic Mistral, Joseph Roumanille et Alphonse Tavan. This was created to begin the literary renaissance of the provencal language. Theodore followed the tradition of the French literary masters, from Lamartine to Mallarme. He wrote three collections of lyric poems, La Grenade entr'ouverte, Les Filles d'Avignon, Le Soleil d'Outre-Tombe et, and three plays, Le Pain du Peche, Le Rapt, Le Patre. Theodore followed the troubadour tradition as a poet. Paul Valery called him “the only true Provencal poet”, in a letter to Pierre Louys. He loved Zani (Jenny Manivet) who was well known for her beauty and grace, yet after three years of a shared, chaste love, left for the Far East in the service of God and the poor. Theodore never recovered from this shock of losing the woman he so deeply loved. He was killed by some rivals at the age of 57. Theodore Aubanel Museum can be only visited with prior appointment. It is not generally open to the public, you will have to undergo a private conducted tour. Theodore revived regional Provencal literature, the ups and owns of the renaissance can be gauged from the exhibits. The museum traces the history of not only the area's literature but also the development of printing works. It is closed on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays.
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