Yesterday we drove an hour and 45 minutes north to a little village in the mountains called Conques (pronounced "conk"). It was absolutely worth the trip, which was relaxed and scenic, too. The church in Conques is one of the best Romanesque churches I've ever visited. And it's in the middle of a wonderful little village, which still has all its medieval streets and buildings. And finally, the wonderful village is situated in a grand location among forest-covered mountains. We spent many enjoyable hours there and it still didn't quite feel like enough.
The Abbey Church of Saint Foy was built from about 1050 to 1120 to house the relics of Foy, a young girl who was martyred in 303. Interestingly, Conques Abbey didn't originally have her relics - in 876, a monk stole them from a nearby abbey! This thievery actually happened a lot in the Middle Ages.
Conques became a major pilgrimage destination because of the miracles said to happen at her shrine, and because Conques was on the way to Santiago, the most popular pilgrimage site in Europe. The Church of St. Foy was built specifically to accommodate all the pilgrims, with a wide ambulatory around the shrine in the east end.
