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{{Short description|Commune in Aveyron, France}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name                   = Conques
|native name            = {{native name|oc| Concas}}
|image                  = Abbatiale de Conques et la ville.JPG
|caption                = A view of Conques
|image coat of arms     = Blason Conques.svg
|arrondissement         = Rodez
|canton                 = Lot et Dourdou
|INSEE                  = 12076
|postal code            = 12320
|commune                = [[Conques-en-Rouergue]]
|coordinates            = {{coord|44.6003|2.3972|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m            = 442
|elevation min m        = 221
|elevation max m        = 663
|area km2               = 30.51
|population             = 237
|population date        = 2021
|population footnotes   = <ref name=pop2021>{{cite web|url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/7739582/ensemble.pdf|title=Populations légales 2021|language=fr|trans-title=Legal populations 2021|publisher=[[Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques|INSEE]]|date=December 2023}}</ref>
}}

'''Conques''' ({{IPA|fr|kɔ̃k}}; [[Languedocien dialect|Languedocien]]: ''Concas'') is a former [[Communes of France|commune]] in the [[Aveyron]] [[Departments of France|department]] in [[Southern France]], in the [[Occitania (administrative region)|Occitania]] [[Regions of France|region]]. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of [[Conques-en-Rouergue]].<ref>[https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/arrete/2015/11/19/INTB1530637A/jo/texte/fr Arrêté préfectoral] 19 November 2015</ref>

==Geography==
The village is located at the confluence of the rivers [[Dourdou de Conques]] and [[Ouche]]. It is built on a hillside and has classic narrow medieval streets.  As a result, large vehicles such as buses cannot enter the historic town centre and must park outside.  Consequently, most day visitors enter on foot. The town was largely passed by in the nineteenth century, and was saved from oblivion by the efforts of a small number of dedicated people.  As a result, the historic core of the town has very little construction dating from between 1800 and 1950, leaving the medieval structures remarkably intact.  The roads have been paved, and modern-day utility lines are buried. It is one of [[Les Plus Beaux Villages de France]] (most beautiful villages of France).

The town is situated in a valley. Its name originates {{ety|oc|conca|basin}}, which is derived {{ety|la|concha|shell}}.<ref>A Dictionary of Surnames (Oxford University Press) 1988.</ref>

==Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy==
{{Main|Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy}}
[[File:Saint Faith Abbey Church of Conques 22.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|The Sainte-Foy abbey church in Conques]]
The [[Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy]] in Conques was a popular stop for [[pilgrim]]s on the [[Camino de Santiago]] on their way to [[Santiago de Compostela]] in what is now Spain. The main draw for medieval pilgrims at Conques were the remains of [[Saint Faith]] ("Sainte-Foy"), a [[martyr]]ed young woman from the fourth century.

The original monastery building at Conques was an eighth-century oratory built by monks fleeing the [[Saracen]]s in Spain.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brockman|first=Norbert C.|title=Encyclopedia of sacred places|year=2011|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediasacr00broc|url-access=limited|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1-59884-654-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediasacr00broc/page/n139 109]|edition=2nd}}</ref> The original chapel was destroyed in the eleventh century in order to facilitate the creation of a much larger church <ref name="W. S. Stoddard, Art and Architecture (1966)">{{cite book|last=Stoddard|first=Whitney S.|title=Art and Architecture in Medieval France|year=1966|publisher=Westview Press|location=Boulder, Co.|pages=35}}</ref>  as the arrival of the relics of Sainte-Foy caused the pilgrimage route to shift from [[Agen]] to Conques.<ref name="Brockman (2011)">{{cite book|last=Brockman|first=Norbert C.|title=Encyclopedia of sacred places|year=2011|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediasacr00broc|url-access=limited|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1-59884-654-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediasacr00broc/page/n140 110]|edition=2nd}}</ref>  The second phase of construction, which was completed by the end of the eleventh-century, included the building of the five radiating chapels, the ambulatory with a lower roof, the choir without the gallery and the nave without the galleries.<ref name="W. S. Stoddard, Art and Architecture (1966)"/> The third phase of construction, which was completed early in the twelfth-century, was inspired by the churches of Toulouse and Santiago Compostela. Like most pilgrimage churches Conques is a basilica plan that has been modified into a cruciform plan.<ref name=Vernon12>{{cite journal|last=Vernon|first=Eleanor|title=Romanesque Churches of the Pilgrimage Road|journal=Gesta|year=1963|issue=Pre-Serial Issue|pages=12–15 [13]|doi=10.2307/766600 |jstor=766600 |s2cid=192619929 }}</ref> Galleries were added over the aisle and the roof was raised over the transept and choir to allow people to circulate at the gallery level.  The western aisle was also added to allow for increased pilgrim traffic.<ref name="W. S. Stoddard, Art and Architecture (1966)" /> The exterior length of the church is 59 meters. The interior length is 56 meters. the width of each transept is 4 meters. The height of the [[crossing tower]] is 26.40 meters tall.<ref name=Vernon14>{{cite journal|last=Vernon|first=Eleanor|title=Romanesque Churches of the Pilgrimage Road|journal=Gesta|year=1963|issue=Pre-Serial Issue|pages=14}}</ref>

The Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy was added to the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]s in 1998, as part of the [[World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France]].  Its [[Romanesque architecture]], albeit somewhat updated in places, is displayed in periodic self-guided tour opportunities, especially of the upper level, some of which occur at night with live music and appropriately-adjusted light levels.

==Population==
{{Historical populations
|align=none
|cols=2
| 1793|1055
| 1800|1107
| 1806|1234
| 1821|1317
| 1831|1309
| 1836|1360
| 1841|1418
| 1846|1387
| 1851|1117
| 1856|1388
| 1861|1288
| 1866|1301
| 1872|1220
| 1876|1267
| 1881|1282
| 1886|1286
| 1891|1211
| 1896|561
| 1901|993
| 1906|990
| 1911|902
| 1921|755
| 1926|725
| 1931|709
| 1936|686
| 1946|647
| 1954|561
| 1962|529
| 1968|479
| 1975|420
| 1982|404
| 1990|362
| 1999|302
| 2008|281
}}

==Media==
American author [[Hannah Green (author)|Hannah Green]] wrote a non-fiction work about Conques and the church entitled ''Little Saint'', based on her visit to the town in 1975.<ref>{{cite web|author1=William Jay Smith|title=Golden spark, little saint|url=http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Golden-spark--little-saint-2148|website=The New Criterion|accessdate=4 October 2015|date=September 2001}}</ref>

The massive movie set of the fictional provincial town of Villeneuve in [[Beauty and the Beast (2017 film)|Beauty and the Beast]] was inspired by the town of Conques.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/beauty-and-the-beast-set-design|title=How Beauty and the Beast's Magnificent Sets Came to Life|author=Elizabeth Stamp|work=[[Architectural Digest]]|date=17 March 2017}}</ref> 
{{clear left}}

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
Image:2003 Conques hermitage IMG 6333.JPG|Conques hermitage
Image:2003 Conques arch IMG 6323.JPG|Entrance gate to Conques - the Port du Barry
Image:2003 Conques vista IMG 6343.JPG|Conques rooftop vista
Image:Conques - panorama.jpg|Conques panorama
File:Procession lors de la fête de la sainte Foy à Conques le 6 octobre 2013.jpg|Procession on Saint-Foy day in Conques on 6 October 2013
</Gallery>

==See also==
*[[Communes of the Aveyron department]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.conques.fr Official Conques web site from the Tourist Office; all the essential and accurate information to visit and to know about Conques]

{{Les Plus Beaux Villages de France}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Former communes of Aveyron]]
[[Category:Plus Beaux Villages de France]]
[[Category:Aveyron communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 2016]]