Église Saint-Michel

English translation

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History

Church much altered. The walls of the nave and the bell tower are of Romanesque period; the vault is modern. In the 14th century, its reconstruction was decided and undertaken by the choir. The plan adopted differs substantially from that which was generally adopted in the south, but it was not continued otherwise this church would have been three naves, drawing inspiration from the plan of Saint-Nazaire de Carcassonne. The first bay of the nave serves as entrance by a lateral door opened in the 14th century. In front rises the bell tower under which passes the public way. The village of Conques appears, in written sources, at the beginning of the 12th century: Adhémar de Conchas appears as witness in deeds of 1134 and 1151 concerning the viscounts of Carcassonne. In the middle of the 13th century, the castrum and the seigniory of Conques, held in fief by Pierre de Conchis, belong to the king of France, who holds them in paréage with the abbot of Lagrasse. The village preserves important vestiges of its medieval enclosure (towers, bartizans, curtains) and a large seigniorial castle of the 11th-12th centuries. A study currently underway by Marie-Elise Gardel will allow the knowledge of this fortified settlement to be refined. Several religious buildings preceded the current parish church: the church of Saint-Pierre de Vic, the church of the priory Saint Laurent d'Orbiel, other rural churches: Saint Romain d'Azac, Saint Martin de Villeraze, Notre-Dame de la Gardie. The church of the castrum appears in texts in 1248. Some traces of it would remain in the current building: lower parts of the north walls (archaeological study necessary), font of the 10th century with interlacing. The primitive church of Saint-Michel, burnt in the 14th century, would have been rebuilt between 1360 and 1400. The current building appears as a Gothic construction, from the second half of the 14th century, for the polygonal apse and the two small chapels immediately around it. The nave of 3 bays is of southern Gothic type, covered with a roof structure. The north arm of the transept is also Gothic. The south transept and the last lateral chapels of the nave were built in the second half of the 19th century in a Gothic style intended to give unity to the whole. The bell tower, under which passes the public way, situated to the west of the church, is a square tower pierced with round arch windows, surmounted by a crenellated terrace bearing a clock, its upper parts date from 1913-14 (executed according to a plan by architect E. Gordien). The nave measures 22 m long by 10 m wide, it has 3 bays, on which open 4 chapels: 2 square ones added in the 18th century, 2 polygonal ones in the 19th. Covered with a roof structure on diaphragm arches, masked by plaster vaults in 1854, it recovered its original covering in 1975, after the vaults collapsed. The corbels are moulded, but no trace of painting has been mentioned. The entrance portal is located to the north in the 1st bay of the nave, the capitals are ornamented with continuous foliage. In the nave, two rectangular chapels were created in 1766: to the south the chapel of Saint Sébastien, which contains a statue of saint Sébastien, sculptured by Nelly in 1876, to the north the chapel of Saint Roch. Two pentagonal chapels were added in 1864 and 1865 towards the west: those of Saint Etienne to the south and of the Sacré Cœur to the north. The apse of 7 panels, vaulted in stone, was lit by 3 windows until 1871, the date at which 2 others were opened by Desmarets architect of the department. These openings are with two trilobed lancets surmounted by a trilobed oculus. The high altar which was against the back wall of the apse was moved forward after 1843 (cf A. Guilhem archives of the fabrics council) then removed in 1872; the current high altar is in polychrome marble from Caunes (1769), it comes from the chapel of Saint Roch, placed in the choir in 1967. On either side of the apse, there is a shallow rectangular chapel and a pentagonal chapel forming an absidiole. The regularity of these chapels reflects the will of the 19th-century departmental architects. To the south, the chapel of the Virgin, of rectangular plan is vaulted with ribs, it houses a painted wooden retable of the 16th century representing the mysteries of the Rosary (classified OM 1907). The chapel of Saint-Joseph, which follows it towards the south, was added in 1847 to regularise the transept, it is covered with a plaster vault. To the north, the chapel of Purgatory of rectangular plan is vaulted in stone, its altar in black marble purchased in 1860, its decoration is from the same period. The chapel ND of Mercy, which follows it towards the north, would be the former baptistry, it is vaulted in stone with sculptured keystone. It contains a pietà by Virebent. Only the apse is protected, an extension would help the commune in its desire for restoration: a study has been entrusted to the architectural workshop Caroline Serra and works already undertaken for the restoration of the retable of the Virgin have highlighted the need to take into account the entirety of the building, which moreover has numerous protected moveable objects.