Saint-Jacques Tower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saint-Jacques Tower is a Parisian monument located in the IVe arrondissement. This 52-m gothic tower is all that remains of the former church of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie (Saint James of the Butchery).
The tower's rich decoration reflects the wealth of its patrons, the wholesale butchers of the nearby Les Halles market. It was dedicated to Saint James the Great during the reign of François I, and welcomed pilgrims of the way of St James. A statue of the saint was installed on the top of the tower during the 19th century. The church, with the exception of the tower, was demolished in 1797.
During the Second Empire, the architect Ballu restored the tower, placing it on a pedestal and designing a small city park around it. This coincided with the construction of the rue de Rivoli and the Avenue Victoria nearby, requiring huge quantities of earth to be removed to ensure the rue de Rivoli a smooth flat path. The pedestal allowed the tower to retain its original elevation: nowadays, the change in ground level can best be appreciated in rue St-Bon, just northeast of the tower, where a staircase leads up to the original street level in Rue des Lombards.
A statue of Blaise Pascal is located at the base of the tower, commemorating the experiments on atmospheric pressure performed here. A meteorological laboratory is also installed at the top of the tower.
The tower inspired Alexandre Dumas to write the play La tour Saint-Jacques-la-boucherie in 1856.
Nicolas Flamel, a patron of the church, was buried under its floor.
The tower has been surrounded by scaffolding and obscured by sheeting for some years as surveyors investigate the condition of the stone. Recent findings show that most of the stone and its ornamentation genuinely originates from the late-medieval era of the tower's construction, and was not added by the 19th-century restorers. Unfortunately, the survey also indicates serious cracking. The top three quarters of sheeting was taken down in March 2008, revealing a renovated upper section of the tower.
| located near the metro station: Châtelet. |
