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Saint Foy Abbey-church |
Saint Foy abbey-church, incontestable masterpiece of roman art, is the work of Conques' monks who had gained a solid reputation of builders. It is a perfect example of the churches called «of pilgrimage roads», even the major monument of this group of churches, preceding Saint Sernin of Toulouse, Santiago de Compostela, Saint Martial of Limoges and Saint Martin of Tours (the two last churches being destroyed). On the west side of the building, the tympanum (beginning of the XIIth century) with its 124 figures made in partly polychromatic wax illustrates the Last Judgment.
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A spiritual treasure is at the origin of this masterpiece : the remains of a battered
child brought at the end of the IXth century and venerated with an intense fervour
which characterizes the popular devotion for the cult of relics in the Middle Ages.
The eminently functional abbey-church's architecture can only satisfy the mind. Indeed, in its conception, it met a double necessity : to welcome all the pilgrims who flocked towards Conques and to allow to a community of monks which size was probably continually growing to gather for the divine office seven times a day. Thus Saint Foy has been designed like a pilgrimage shrine but also as an abbey-church. For the inhabitants of the town, a distinct parish church had been erected and was dedicated to Saint Thomas of Cantorbery. Today, some buttresses inserted in in the Chirac's square retaining wall only remain. |
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Building stages
Pierre Soulages' stained-glass windows
The tympanum of the Last Judgment
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Texts from Jean-Claude FAU
Editions of Beffroi - Regional Concil of Aveyron Translation from Valérie FABRE |
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