Memory of Stones
Sainte-Foy Abbey Church in Conques
This Romanesque abbey, registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the "Ways of Saint Jacques de Compostelle in France" since 1998, is also classified as a historical monument by the 1840 list.
The Sainte-Foy de Conques abbey was built from 1041 by Abbot Odolric on the site of the old Dadon hermitage (819), the work continued until the 12th century.
The church is built on a Latin cross plan and with radiating chapels (three on the apse) and Benedictine (four chapels aligned on the transept. It has a double envelope (nave and apse for the first, side aisles and ambulatory for the second) ), and an elevation on two levels, the galleries giving onto the central nave through twin bays.It presents volumes gathered due to topographical constraints, the first hermitage having been founded in the steep valley of the Dourdou.
The apse is shallow, the nave small (20.70 m long and 6.80 m wide) compared to the transept (35 m). The barrel vault (buttressed by the semi-barrel vaults of the upper gallery) 22.10 m high and the raised arches of the aisles 9.40 m high reveal a real search for verticality of the architectural project.
The interior of the abbey is very sober with the choir, the painted vault and the stands are painted in clear, almost white. The top of the walls, the apse and many piers are made of Moon limestone of varying yellow color. The east walls of the Transept, the ambulatory and the chapels, as well as the walls of the south aisle are in red sandstone from Nauviale.
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The span of the narthex is the widest (5.70 m), the following three are identical (4.30 m), the fifth shows a widening (5.20 m) which seems to prevent the narrowing of the next (2.90 m ) overlooking the transept.
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The nave is 20.70 m long and 6.80 m wide
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The choir is surrounded by an ambulatory allowing the faithful to parade around the relics of Foy d'Agen. It is decorated with wrought iron gates dating from the 12th century and which, according to the legendary tradition reported in the Liber miraculorum sancte Fidis by Bernard d'Angers, were made with chains, necklaces and iron bracelets brought by former prisoners. delivered through the intercession of the saint.
Apse of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques
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Apsidal vault of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques
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Crossing of the transept of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques
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North side of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques
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South side of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques
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Tribunes of the Transept of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques at night
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The stained glass windows by Pierre Soulages in the Sainte-Foy Abbey Church in Conques
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The stained-glass windows by Pierre Soulages in the Sainte-Foy Abbey Church in Conques en Nocturne
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The Tympanum of the Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy de Conques
