"At the origin, the word referred to the double railings and their equipment that were used to run the Quintaine and to practice the arts of knighthood.
The street runs where the 12th-century ramparts once stood. In 1622, King Louis XIII ordered the ramparts to be demolished. The Rue des Lices, briefly named after the Vice-Legate Carlo Conti in 1604, was the first street in Avignon to be paved with cobblestones, at his request.
Today, the Chapel of the Incarnate Word is the only remaining vestige of the former convent of the 'Dames du Verbe Incarné', an order founded in 1639 by Jeanne Chézard de Matel. With her personal fortune, Madame Chézard de Matel created a school for young ladies, and founded a religious order that she housed on Rue des Lices.
The Almshouse was a benevolent society created in the late 1400s by the Town Council, to serve the needy. After the French Revolution, the almshouse came to be known as the 'Hospice des indigents' (Poorhouse). Men's quarters were to the west, women's quarters were to the east.
The courtyard was bordered by a building called 'La Galère', which was reserved for women 'of ill repute'. This wing, and the chapel, have been demolished.
In the mid-19th century, the site was purchased by the city, and was turned into a barracks for military troops passing through. In 1890 the School of Fine Arts was established here, up until 1998, when it was turned into a condominium by the name of Clos des Arts."
Sources: Avignon Cité Mariale
http://www.avignonlacitemariale.com/
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