Conques
Tiny Medieval Pilgrim Village In A Wooded Gorge Whose Abbey Church Of Sainte Foy, With Its Last Judgment Tympanum And Treasury, Is Part Of The Routes Of Santiago UNESCO Listing · Conques, Occitanie
Conques is a small village of slate roofs and half-timbered houses stacked on a steep slope above the Dourdou gorge in the Aveyron, with only a few dozen permanent residents. It exists because of the abbey church of Sainte-Foy, a great Romanesque pilgrimage church built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries on the road from Le Puy to Santiago de Compostela. Its west doorway carries one of the finest carved tympanums of the Middle Ages, a Last Judgment with well over a hundred figures, the saved on one side and the damned being tormented by devils on the other. The treasury next door holds the Majesty of Sainte Foy, a gold reliquary statue studded with gems, among the rarest pieces of early medieval goldsmith work anywhere. Inside, the stained glass is modern and abstract, designed by the painter Pierre Soulages. Walkers on the GR65 still sleep in the abbey's pilgrim hostel. Day trippers fill the lanes in summer; evenings and mornings are quiet and deeply atmospheric, and the drive in on narrow gorge roads is part of the trip.
Conques, 12320, Aveyron, Conques, Occitanie, France
The village lanes are open at all hours, and the abbey church is open daily from morning until evening, with visits paused during services. The treasury has its own ticket and shorter hours, longer in summer and reduced in winter, usually with a lunchtime closure in the low season; confirm. In the main season, evening visits have been offered that include organ music in the church, access to the upper galleries and the lighting of the tympanum after dark; confirm whether they are running and on which nights. Concerts are held in the church through the summer. The monastic community of Premonstratensian canons sings evening prayer and celebrates Mass daily and receives pilgrims each evening; confirm the times on the church door. The tourist office, the Centre européen and most shops and restaurants keep full hours from spring to autumn, but many close for the winter or open only at weekends from about November to March, so off-season visitors should check before driving the long road in. Paid car parks at the edge of the village are open at all times.