Cathedrale Ste-Foy de Conques

Cathedral Church of Ste-Foy, Conques

October 2007

Link to photo page on the Last Judgement tympanum of the Cathédrale Ste-Foy, Conques

Link to Maps of the Pilgrimage Roads of France

Back to from Aubrac to the River Lot and Conques

The famous Last Judgement tympanum of the Cathédrale Ste-Foy dates from the early 1100s. It has a cast of 124 figures, and was originally brightly painted.

Link to photo page on the details of the Last Judgement tympanum of the Cathédrale Ste-Foy, Conques

The tall and narrow Romanesque nave of the Cathédrale Ste-Foy. Most of the best of the surviving capitals are high high up on the columns of the gallery ("tribune") over the aisle vaulting. Sadly the stairs inside the west door which led up there were closed.

Church Capital - The Condemnation of Ste-Foy

Church Capital - The Sacrifice of Abraham (or more accurately his son)

Postcard Photo

"L'Atlante" - one of the tribune capitals

Annunciation Romanesque (north transept) by a more mature angel (with toupée ?) than usual.

For interest Annunciation Renaissance: Donatello's Annunciation in the Cavilcante Chapel in the Franciscan Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence

A Candle in Memory of

Peggy Fletcher (1917 - 2005)

Something about the peaceful beauty and ambience of the village of Conques and the church of the child martyr Ste-Foy made me feel the memory of my mother, who had passed away two years previously.

Here is the "ten day candle" dedicated to her, which would have been helping to light the passage of the beautiful gold reliquary statue of Ste-Foy on her annual outing from the Abbey Treasury on her saint's day two days after the candle had been lit.

Merci pour toutes les choses.

Adrian Fletcher, Conques, October 2007

St-Jacques le Pèlerin

The famous and arresting gold reliquary statue of Ste-Foy (life sized), dates from around 900 and Foy's blue eyes used to stare into the eyes of the pilgrims from her original position at the head of the abbey church's choir. The saint's relics were recessed into a hollow space at the back of the figure.

The statue's body is built up on a roughly carved yew tree wood base, with gold leaf and jewellery added bit by bit over the years. The head looks more like that of a man, and it was ascertained in the 1950s that it is in fact a completely separate hollow metal structure which is much older than the body - possible even the head of an emperor of the later Roman Empire.

To stand in front of her in the Cathedral Museum is indeed a very special experience, especially knowing that she was the only major shrine figure to survive the 100 Years' War (1337 - 1453), the Wars of Religion (1562 - 1598) and the Revolution (1789 et seq).

Link to photo page on the Last Judgement tympanum of the Cathédrale Ste-Foy, Conques

Link to Main Paradoxplace Conques Page

Link to Conques web site (including an english translation and photos from the book on the right)

Link to Sacred Destinations page on Conques

Link to Wikipedia page on Conques