Abbey Church of St. Foy, Conques 
Conques nestles around the Church of St. Foy. Photo by Gilles Privat.
Conques is high in the hills of southern France. Photo by Gilles Privat.
Conques village rooftops. Photo by Phillip Capper.
Facade of the abbey church of St. Foy. Photo by Jean-Pol Grandmont.
Side view of Conques church. Photo by Rui Ornelas.
Romanesque tympanum of the west door. Photo
Nicholas Thompson. 
Doors to Heaven and Hell. Photo
Nicholas Thompson.
Nave and altar inside the church. Photos by Rui Ornelas.
Base of Sainte Foy's robes. Photo © ADAGP.
Head of Sainte Foy and the 'A' of Charlemagne. Photos © ADAGP.
Golden chest from Pepin. Photo © ADAGP.
Carved capital in the cloisters. Photo
Nicholas Thompson. 
Carved capitals in the cloisters. Photos by Nicholas Thompson.
The picturesque village of Conques, high in the hills of southern France, is home to the only medieval shrine on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela that still survives intact.
Thanks to its possession of holy relics of a virgin martyr, the Romanesque Abbey of St. Foy in Conques was an important stop on the pilgrimage route and received many rich gifts from pilgrims and kings.
History
The abbey at Conques was founded in 819 AD, when the forested area was uninhabited and provided isolation for prayer and meditation. The spot was chosen by a hermit named Dadon, who later founded a community of Benedictine monks.
In the same year the abbey was founded, the relics of St. James were discovered at Compostela in Spain. Streams of pilgrims soon began to make their way to the shrine. The pilgrimage routes passed through smaller shrines along the way, which soon became rich from pilgrim gifts and religious tourism. For the monks at Conques, the lure of fame and riches soon proved too much to bear, and they conspired to steal some relics to attract pilgrims.
In 866, a Conques monk was dispatched to join a monastery in Agen, which had the relics of St. Foy, a virgin martyred in 303 AD under Diocletian. The saint was known for her ability to cure blindness and free captives, and her statue-reliquary attracted many pilgrims. The Conques brother acted as a faithful monk for 10 years at Agen until he was able to steal the relics, which he brought back to Conques. Just as they had hoped, the pilgrim road shifted from Agen to Conques.
The Conques monastery soon prospered. Pilgrims left jewels to be added to the saint's statue and the best goldsmiths competed to create ornaments and containers for the relics. Pepin and Charlemagne both sent golden treasures.
By the 11th century, it became necessary to build a larger church to accommodate the hundreds of pilgrims that flowed through the town. Construction of the new Church of St. Foy was directed by Abbot Odolric (1031-1065) and completed around the year 1120.
The pilgrimage route that passed through Conques began in Le Puy in eastern France and proceeded west through difficult, mountainous terrain before arriving in the hillside village. (The floor of the church slopes towards the door to make it easier to wash away the mud tracked in by tired pilgrim feet.)
Pilgrims coming from Le Puy and Estaing entered Conques on rue Haute. In the abbey church, pilgrims circled the shrine of St. Foy three times then stopped in front of the golden reliquary-statue to ask the saint for a safe journey to Santiago, which could take them up to a year of dangerous travel.
Writing in 1010, a clergyman named Bernard d'Angers recorded the scene:
The crowd of people prostrating themselve on the ground was so dense it was impossible to kneel down...
When they saw it [the statue of St. Foy] for the first time, all in gold and sparkling with precious stones and looking like a human face, the majority of the peasants thought that the statue was really looking at them and answering their prayers with her eyes.
After visiting the shrine of St. Foy and resting, the Santiago pilgrims moved on to Figeac and Cahors through the Porte de la Vinzelle. The shrine of St. Foy in Conques is the only medieval shrine on the pilgrimage routes to Spain that survived both the Wars of Religion (1562-98) and the French Revolution (18th century).
The church was restored in the 19th century under the direction of Prosper Merimée, the first Inspector of Historical Monuments. Today, the church with its ancient relics still attracts pilgrims.
What to See
The tiny village of Conques occupies a spectacular position high on the steep, wooded gorge of the River Dourdou, a small tributary of the Lot. It is highly picturesque and peaceful — the Rough Guide to France calls it "one of the great villages of southwest France."
Parts of the medieval walls still survive, along with three of its gates. The houses date from the late Middle Ages and are divided by cobbled lanes and stairways that are a pleasure to wander.
The Abbey Church of St. Foy stands at the center of the village, dominating the landscape, but harmoniously so — its great pointed towers are echoed in the roofs of the medieval houses that huddle closely around it. The fortress-like facade overlooks a small cobbled square beside the tourist office and pilgrims' fountain and is surrounded by terraced gardens.
On the outside, the most notable feature of the otherwise plain church is a large Romanesque carving of the Last Judgment over the main doors. The scene is full of activity, expression and detail, and some of the original colored paint still remains. Christ in majesty presides over the scene in the center while the Archangel Michael and a demon weigh the souls of the dead on scales at his feet.
On the right side of the scene, the damned are swallowed by the monster Leviathan, who excretes them into Hell. The tortures of Hell are shown in great detail and include some characters disliked by the monks: a bishop who governed the area is caught in a net; poachers on abbey property are roasted by the rabbit they had caught. On the left are the righteous, portrayed less vividly but still in impressive detail.
Inside, the church is attractive but rather bare except for the 212 columns in the cloisters, which are topped with charming Romanesque capitals. These depict palm leaves, flowers, scenes from the life of St. Foy, birds, monsters and various symbols.
The only modern addition in the church is a stained-glass window of the only saint to live at the monastery, St. George of Conques, a simple monk renowned for his holiness.
The relics of St. Foy were displayed in a shrine in the choir, encircled by a fine wrought-iron screen protecting it from thieves (something the unfortunate Agen monastery may have found helpful!). The screen was made from the melted-down fetters of pilgrims who had been freed from captivity in Muslim-occupied Spain thanks to the intercession of St. Foy. The revered statue itself has since been moved to a small museum next to the cloisters for safekeeping.
The 5th-century statue of St. Foy, which contains her relics, is a remarkable sight indeed. It is the only surviving example of the statue-reliquary that was common in the Middle Ages. The short seated statue is thought to be based on a pagan Roman model.
The statue-reliquary is completely covered in gold and wears golden robes and a crown encrusted with jewels and cameos, some dating from Greek and Roman times.
The face has a mild, almost blank expression. Inside the head is part of the saint's skull, which has been authenticated as genuine.
Also in the treasury are over 20 golden art masterpieces, including a 9th-century chest donated by King Pepin and the golden letter "A" from Charlemagne. It is said that Charlemagne had 24 golden letters made for 24 monasteries throughout his kingdom, and he liked Conques so much that it received the "A." There are also more holy relics here: a golden reliquary contains the very arm of St. George with which he slew the dragon.
Getting There
Conques is not terribly easy to get to if you don't have your own car. The only public transport to the village is a seasonal bus that runs up the Tarn valley from Entreaygues via Vieillevie and as far as St. Geniez d'Olt. It makes one run in each direction per day, leaving enough time to visit Conques in between. The bus runs on Mondays in June and September and Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in July and August.
Walkers like the medieval pilgrims can use sections of the GR65 and GR62, both of which pass through the village.
Quick Facts
| Names: | Abbey of St. Foy, Abbaye de Sainte-Foy; Abbaye de Ste-Foy; Abbatiale Sainte-Foy; Church of Ste-Foy; Conques Monastery; Conques Abbey |
| Type of site: | Catholic pilgrimage church; Benedictine abbey; World Heritage Site |
| Dates: | Abbey founded 819; relics aquired 896; present church completed 1120 |
| Location: | Conques, 37km north of Rodez, Massif Central, southern France |
| Phone: | 0820 820 803 (Conques tourist office) |
| E-mail: | tourisme@conques.fr |
| Hours: | Church: open daily Treasury museum with statue: open daily, April-Sept 9:30-12:30, 2-6:30; Oct-March 9:30-12:30, 2-6 |
| Cost: | Church: free Treasury museum: €5.50 |
Location Map
Below is a location map and aerial view of Conques. Using the buttons on the left, zoom in for a closer look or zoom out to get your bearings. Click and drag the map to move around. For a larger view, see our France Map or get our free Google Earth download.
Sources
- Norbert C. Brockman, Encyclopedia of Sacred Places
(Oxford University Press, 1998), 51-53.
- Rough Guide France 9 (April 2005), 956-57.
- Site officiel de la ville de Conques
- Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France - UNESCO World Heritage List
More Information
- Conques, l'abbaye Ste-Foy et son tresor - French Minstry of Culture - 7 pages of photos of abbey and treasures
- Patrick Geary, Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Middle Ages (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1978).
- Rob Neillands, The Road to Compostela (Ashbourne: Moorland, 1985).
- Pamela Sheingorn, ed., The Book of Sainte-Foy (Philadelphia: University of Pennslyvania, 1995).
