Conques - Tympanum

The Tympanum of the Cathédrale Ste-Foy, Conques

Link to Cathédrale Church of Ste-Foy

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The famous tympanum of the Cathédrale Ste-Foy dates from the early 1100s. It portrays the Last Judgement and contains 124 figures. As is usual in Last Judgements "Hell" is on the right, and the saved occupy (less interestingly) the left. Beneath the figure of Christ, Saint Michael weighs souls to determine their destination, with the Devil trying to tip the balance in his favour. The reliefs were originally brightly painted, and traces of this can still be seen, particularly in the upper (and more sheltered) part of the work.

This is the same photo as the one above, with the evening sun effect removed to show the old colours better.

Above - the goodies - led by Mary and Peter (upper level right) and Abraham (lower level centre) with Ste-Foy wedged in prayer in the middle opposite the resurrecting dead. Goodies of course are never as interesting as baddies ......

In the central panel of the bottom part of the tympanum to the left of the divider are the saved, to the right the devil's people. Above, souls are weighed and assessed by the Archangel Michael - the arm of the scales in the Archangel's left hand has to be imagined as it has fallen off, but the scale bowls are still there, and the devil is using his finger to tip the scales down in his favour (this being a common representation in this sort of scene). Below, another candidate waits to follow head first the feet disappearing into the jaws of hell.

Come-uppances

Armed angels hold back the damned. In the top centre a condemned abbot (plus three monks) prostrates himself, clutching his grounded crosier, in front of a grotesque figure. Next there is a devil figure standing on a heretic, whose head is being eaten by a demon underneath (who has also stabbed him), and finally a false money changer is being given a drink of molten metal. Below, a naked king has his crown removed "by mouth" whilst giving a futile "it wasn't me it was him" finger gesture, two other authority figures are abused, and on the far right glutton 1 is strung up and emptied. These figures are in a more shady area of the tympanum, which may be why they have kept their old colours better.

Below them (in the bottom right of the tympanum) - Lucifer and his court oversee a good roast of miscellaneous sinners.

In the top photo a singer of bawdy songs has his harp confiscated and his tongue torn out. On the lower left - a knight who persecuted local Christians is pulled head down off his horse to get his come-uppance; illicit lovers (below also), necks roped together, await their fate; a miser is hung by the weight of his money (below also); the tongue of a scandalmonger is pulled; a dominating woman sits astride the shoulders of a a man, but they're both done for; and on the far right we can only see the belly of glutton 2 whose head is already in the cauldron over the fire.