The relics of Sainte-Foy arrived in Conques through theft in 866. After unsuccessful attempts to acquire the relics of Saint Vincent of Saragossa and then the relics of St. Vincent Pompejac in Agen, the abbey authorities set their sights on the relics of Sainte-Foy at the ancient St. Faith’s Church, Sélestat.

As a Romanesque church, it has a barrel-vaulted nave lined with arches on the interior. It is known as a pilgrimage church because many of the large churches along the route to Santiago de Compostela took a similar shape. The main feature of these churches was the cruciform plan.

The reliquary of Sainte-Foy is associated with a destination to which pilgrims travel. The reliquary is a fixed object in a specific location: a pilgrimage church on a known and traveled route.

Abbot Odolric

Centered at Conques, the cult of Sainte Foy was based upon a young girl from Aquitaine, who was tortured and beheaded for refusing to make pagan sacrifices under the Roman persecution of Christians at the end of the third century.

The Reliquary of Sainte Foy is a 33-½ inch wooden statue covered in gold and gemstones. The reliquary holds the skull of Sainte Foy in the bust, which is made from a repurposed Roman helmet. The use of spolia, or the repurposing of Roman artifacts, connects the statue to Rome, the seat of Christianity, and its riches.

: a container or shrine in which sacred relics are kept.

Primary relics are parts of the body of the saint, whereas secondary relics are objects that have been in contact and/or used by the saint. Tertiary relics are those that have touched a primary or secondary relic, conveying the sacredness.

Agen

Romanesque Europe

“Abbey Church of Saint Foy” 1050–1130 C.E.; Reliquary of Saint Foy: ninth century C.E., with later additions. Stone (architecture); stone and paint (tympanum); gold, silver, gemstones, and enamel over wood (reliquary).

1050-1130

Foy to accommodate large crowds of people who wanted to view the relics? The traditional Latin cross was modified at St. Foy by adding an ambulatory in the apse to allow pilgrims to move around more quickly.

Her reliquary statue was said to contain her skull and bones. Monks from the Abbey Church of Conques, France, who were no doubt eager to establish a reputation of grandeur amongst their neighboring churches, stole the reliquary from the shrine of Sainte Foy at Agen.

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque churches characteristically incorporated semicircular arches for windows, doors, and arcades; barrel or groin vaults to support the roof of the nave; massive piers and walls, with few windows, to contain the outward thrust of the vaults; side aisles with galleries above them; a large tower over the crossing …

Ribbed domes, arches and vaults are experimental types of Romanesque architecture. This answer has been confirmed as correct and helpful.

A common characteristic of Romanesque buildings, found in both churches and in the arcades that separate large interior spaces of castles, is the alternation of piers and columns. The most simple form is a column between each adjoining pier. Sometimes the columns are in multiples of two or three.

Combining features of Roman and Byzantine buildings and other local traditions, Romanesque architecture exhibits massive quality, thick walls, round arches , sturdy piers , groin vaults , large towers, and symmetrical plans. The art of the period was characterized by a vigorous style in both painting and sculpture.

Romanesque buildings used rounded arches, while Gothic structures favored pointed arches. As a result of these structural differences, Romanesque interiors feel heavy and earthbound, while Gothic interiors are expansive and light-filled.

The pointed arch, rib vault and flying buttress are three of the main features of Gothic architecture.

They are a common feature of Gothic architecture and are often found in medieval cathedrals. One of the most prominent cathedrals to include flying buttresses was Paris’ Notre Dame which began construction in 1163 and was completed in 1345.

Early Gothic lasted between 1130 and 1200, with notable examples being the Abbey of St-Denis, Sens Cathedral and Chartres Cathedral; Rayonnant Gothic lasted between 1250 and 1370s, with notable examples being the chapel of Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame; and Flamboyant Gothic lasted between 1350 and 1550, with notable …

Notre Dame de Paris

city of Paris

Gothic architecture began in the earlier 12th century in northwest France and England and spread throughout Latin Europe in the 13th century; by 1300, a first “international style” of Gothic had developed, with common design features and formal language.

The term Gothic was coined by classicizing Italian writers of the Renaissance, who attributed the invention (and what to them was the nonclassical ugliness) of medieval architecture to the barbarian Gothic tribes that had destroyed the Roman Empire and its classical culture in the 5th century ce.

Gothic was once considered as an insult because of ‘barbaric and rude’ that is associated to the term. Gothic was an insult used to say back in Dark Ages originating from the word ‘goths’, the tribe that played an important role in plunging the Roman Empire into Dark Ages.

Cope and Stewardson were eloquent proponents of their gothic style in preference to classical (Roman) buildings, especially for college campuses.