058. Church of Sainte-foy. Conques, France. Romanesque Europe. Church c. 1050- 1130 CE Stone.

Form

-Church built to handle a large number of pilgrims: wide transepts, large ambulatory with radiating chapels -Massive heavy interior walls, unadorned -No clerestory; light provided by windows over the side aisles and galleries -Barrel vaults in the nave, reinforced by transverse arches/ -Cross-like ground plan, called a Latin cross.

Content

-Cntent

Function

-Christian church built along the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostela, a popular pilgrimage center for the worship of the relics of Saint James.

058. Church of Sainte-foy. Conques, France. Romanesque Europe. Church c. 1050- 1130 CE Stone and paint. (The last Judgment)

Form

-Largest Romanesque tympanum -124 figures densely packed together; originally richly painted

Content

--Christ, as a strict judge, divides the world into those going to heaven and those going to hell. —Christ is depicted with a welcoming right hand, a cast down the left —Christ sits in a mandorla -A dividing line runs vertically through the cross in the middle of the composition -The Archangel Michael and the devil are at Christ’s feet, weighing souls. -Hell, with the damned, is on the right. -People enter the church on the right as sinners and exit on the left as saved; the right door has sculptures of the damned and the left door has images of the saved. -The figures of the saved move toward Christ, Mary, and Saint Peter; local abbots and monks follow Charlemange, the legendary benefactor of the monastery, who is led by the hand -On the right lower level, the devil presides over a chaotic tangle of tortured condemned sinners -Inscription on lentil: “O Sinners, change your morals before you might face cruel judgment. -Hieratic scale may parallel one's status in a feudal society.

Function

-Last Judgment cautions pilgrims that life is transitory and one should prepare for the next life. -The subject of the tympanum reminds pilgrims of the point of their pilgrimage

058. Church of Sainte-foy. Conques, France. Romanesque Europe. Reliquary of Sainte Foy: Ninth century CE with later additions. Gold silver, gemstones, and enamel over wood. (reliquary) Form:

Form

-Child saint’s skull is housed in the rather mannish-looking enlarged head -Jewels, gems, and crows added over the years by the faithful, as acts of devotion. Facial expression is haughty and severe

Content

--Sainte Foy probably died as a martyr to the Christian faith during the persecutions in 303 under Emperor Diocletian; she was tortured over a brazier; she refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods in a pagan ritual. -Saint Foy, triumphant over death, looking up and over the viewer's head. -Relics of her body were stolen from a nearby town and enthroned in Conques in 866.

Function

-Reliquary of a young girl martyred in the early fourth century.