Église Saint-Sauveur de Figeac

Figeac

In the heart of the medieval town of Figeac, the church of Saint-Sauveur carries the memory of a Benedictine abbey that long rivalled its close neighbour, Conques. Founded in 838 by the King of Aquitaine Pepin I at the request of the monks of Sainte-Foy, the abbey of Figeac soon sought to free itself from that tutelage: its monks went so far as to backdate their origins to 755, under Pepin the Short, provoking for centuries rivalries and thefts of relics between the two communities. Attached to the order of Cluny in 1096 by decision of Pope Urban II, then directly to the Holy See in 1496, the abbey church met its harshest trial in 1576–1577, when Calvinist troops, in the thick of the Wars of Religion, methodically undermined its pillars to bring it down. It would take nearly a century and a half of work, from 1625 to 1748, to raise the nave and choir again in their present proportions. Inside, the Chapelle des Pénitents preserves a remarkable set of 17th-century woodwork and stalls, while the fortified keep-like bell tower recalls how much the abbey was, in the Middle Ages, as much an urban fortress as a spiritual centre. Now a simple parish church, Saint-Sauveur remains one of the rare witnesses to the monastic power that made Figeac a major stage on the routes to Compostela.

Getting there : Place Vival, historic centre of Figeac, free admission

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound