Let yourself be bewitched by the eternal charms of Conques, in the Aveyron. A must-see stop on the road to Le Puy, the most celebrated of the routes that lead to Santiago de Compostela, Conques will take you on a journey back to the time of the Middle Age’s great builders.
To the north of Aveyron, the escarpments of the high Lot valley hide a village that was a Mecca of Christianity: This is Conques, tucked away in a natural circle with lush vegetation. This village has been a major stop on the routes to Santiago de Compostela since the 12th century.
Its importance to the St James pilgrimage led to Conques being awarded a UNESCO world heritage site for two monuments: the Sainte-Foy abbey church, famous for its typanum of the Last Judgement, and the pilgrims’ bridge that crosses the Dourdou river.
Still intact after a thousand years, Conques lives in a harmony of grey-blue slate, ochre limestone and red sandstone, of roses, wisteria and wooden-sided facades. An authentic décor, perfect to appreciate the aura of a small village with an exceptional destiny.
For Conques, everything started in the 11th century. At that time, enterprising monks built a great abbey-church on the foundations of an old retreat. This building became the depository of the remains of Sainte-Foy, a young Christian martyr. From this moment on, miracles succeeded one another, attracting crowds of pilgrims.
Conques’ reputation reached its peak in the 11th and 12th centuries. Its wealth followed the same ascending curve, materialising in the “Treasure of Sainte-Foy”: a goldsmith’s treasure unique in Europe that you may admire on the site of the abbey-church.
Sainte-Foy de Conques, planned to welcome hundreds of pilgrims, is still a guarantor of the spirit of pilgrimage. Lighted by contemporary stained glass windows, it is the embodiment of architectural research carried out in medieval times. Inside, spiritual radiance and Romanesque art form a couple united for eternity.
Keys to discovery
> As a thousand-year-old treasure on the roads to Santiago de Compostela, Conques profits from the name “Great site of France” and is also classed among the “Most beautiful villages in France”.
> The stained-glass windows in Conques Abbey Church, inaugurated in1994, are the work of the world-famous artist Pierre Soulages, who wasborn in Rodez in 1919. Soulages describes them as, "a source of lightwhich pays the greatest respect to the Romanesque architecture and theemotions it provokes."
The Musée Soulages opened in Rodez in 2014.The exhibits includes the preparatory work for the stained-glasswindows of Conques.
> Completed around 1125, the typanum of the Conques abbey-church consists of 124 sculpted personages. It represents heaven and hell, placed on either side of Christ in Majesty.
> Near Conques is the AOC wine region of Vallon de Marcillac.
In the Middle Ages, the monks of Conques founded priories and built churches all over the area, where they patiently tilled the soil. They are thought to have been responsible for introducing the fer servadou or mansois grape variety (saumancés in Occitan) to the Vallon de Marcillac, a very old grape variety used to make Marcillac reds and rosés, which have been AOC wines since 1990, giving these wines their very distinctive character and aromas of raspberry and blackcurrant. A wine tasting tour is a must, at the different cellars on the Route des Vins, which winds its way through the 200 hectares of terraced hillsides.
> 10 km from Conques you'll find the Lot Valley with its picturesque wild gorge and hilltop villages such as La Vinzelle.
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