Tour St Jacques
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- Published on Monday, 25 July 2011 12:51
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The Tour St-Jacques (St. James Tower) dates back to the 16th Century. This is the only enduring element of a church that once stood in central Paris. It is the former starting point of Christian pilgrimages and lately underwent a dramatic restoration. It had become a public danger because of the unstable elements and the bell tower was hidden under heavy scaffolding for many years before it was unveiled and revamped in early 2009. It is once again a major feature of the landscape of Paris’ central right bank and for good reason too. The tower boasts of a stunning statuary and glass and it looks less like an orphaned remnant of a church than a standalone monument. The Saint-Jacques tower is standing alone in the middle of a little garden that has its name.
It was built between 1509 and 1523. The Saint-Jacques tower has a flamboyant Gothic style and is the only remaining vestige of the Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie church that was built in 1797. This refuge was the point of departure on the Via Toronensis (or Tours way) of the pilgrimage route to St-Jacques-de-Compostelle (Santiago de Compostella) in Spain. At the base of the tower is the statue of Blaise Pascal, which is a reminder that it was here that he repeated his amazing experiments carried out in Puy-de-Dôme.
A statue of Saint Jacques le Majeur is located in the north-west corner. It dominates the platform on which a small meteorological station has been built since 1891 and it belongs to the Observatoire de Montsouris. You can also see the amazing sculpted symbols of the four evangelists (the bull, eagle, lion and man) appear in the corners. Last century, these statues were restored, along with the eighteen statues of saints and the gargoyles that decorate the walls of the tower.