The village of Conques, nestled between the rocks of the Gorge de l'Ouche in a very pictoresque setting, is well known for its splendid former Abbaye de Ste-Foy (11th - 12th cent.). Sainte Foy was a young girl who became an early Christian martyr; her relics were first kept at a rival monastary in Agen, but a monk from the abbey at Conques stole the relics in the 9th century, hence attracting pilgrims to this remote spot (maps) and firmly establishing Conques as a stop on the pilgimmage route to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. Of particular note are the tympanum depicting the Last Judgment and the treasury which holds one of the most important collections of medieval and Renaissance gold work in Western Europe. Some of the items were made in the abbey's own workshops as early as the 9th century.
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