Church of Saint Foy, Conques
This abbey was built in 1041, on the site of an old hermitage, following the influx of pilgrims. This influx was encouraged by the translation of the body of Sainte-Foy, to Agen, which occurred almost 2 centuries earlier by a monk. The Wars of Religion inflicted damage on the pillaged building.
About this building
It was the reception and circulation of the crowds that determined the structure of the abbey. The aisles which frame the nave, channeled the pilgrims towards the ambulatory, the semicircle of which surrounds the choir, the exhibition site for the Majesty of Saint Foy and various reliquaries. The generously sized nave and two arms of the transept are capable of holding hundreds of worshipers and allowed everyone to see the priest officiating at the high altar, then located at the intersection of the 2 perpendicular axes, under the dome. In case of exceptional affluence, one could still use the vast grandstands. In the east, the 7 chapels open on the ambulatory and on the transept, multiplied the number of secondary altars and allowed the celebration of simultaneous masses. The porch is framed by two towers with powerful buttresses. These massive towers were raised and topped with stone pyramids in 1881.
