Tour Saint-Jacques

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Tour Saint-Jacques
Tour Saint-Jacques around 1867
Tour Saint-Jacques and Column of Fontaine du Palmier (as seen from Rue de Rivoli )

The Tour Saint-Jacques is a Gothic tower in the 4th arrondissement in Paris . It is 51 m high and is one of the city's major attractions .

History of origin

The current bell tower is a remnant of the late Gothic church of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie . Its origin is difficult to date. The church was first mentioned in December 1119 in a papal bull by Calixtus II . It was given its name Église Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie in 1253. It was the official church of the butchers' guild (French boucherie ), whose slaughterhouses were housed in the nearby Les Halles . On January 14, 1358, the Paris treasurer was murdered by a certain Perrin Macé , who fled to the church. The small church gate was donated by Nicolas Flamel in 1399 . The church was consecrated during the construction phase on March 24, 1414 by the Parisian bishop Gérard de Montaigu the Younger . For a long time she lacked the bell tower.

After an arbitration decision of February 26, 1508 forced the previous property owners to sell, from 1508 architect Je (h) an de Félin under Bishop Etienne de Poncher built the bell tower for the once important cathedral in the late Gothic style. The construction reached the first of 16 floors in 1510. Little is known about the further construction phase itself. 310 steps lead to the top of the tower, it has been open to the public again since 2013 (for groups with a limited number of steps and by prior arrangement). At the top corners of the spire there are symbolic animal figures from the Revelation of John (eagle, lion, ox) and the colossal statue of Saint Jacques le Majeur, which was attached later . In addition, 19 other statues adorn this tower. In December 1522 the church with its imposing tower was completed, the construction costs amounted to 1,350 livres . Despite its dedication to the butchers, it was mainly used as a meeting place for pilgrims on the Way of St. James , because it is dedicated to St. Jacob ( Saint Jacques ).

On September 19, 1648, the natural scientist Blaise Pascal undertook air pressure measurements on the top of the tower for his "Theory on the balance of liquids". During the French Revolution , the church had been closed since 1790, from 1793 it served as a meeting place for the revolutionary committee. It was destroyed on October 29, 1797, but the bell tower with its 12 bells was left. It was acquired by the city of Paris on August 27, 1836 and restored by Théodore Ballu from December 6, 1853 to 1855 . The purchase and restoration cost the city 250,100 francs.

The Cour du Commerce market was opened at the church on October 13, 1824, on the newly built Rue de Rivoli . Below the tower is a statue of Blaise Pascal erected in 1857 to commemorate his measurements. The statue of Saint Jacques was only erected on the tower by Paul Chenillon in 1870. Since 1891 the bell tower served as an observatory for the weather service. The height of the tower depends on whether you take Jacob's statue into account or not. At the height of the balustrade it measures 50.35 m (25 toises and 5 pieds ), the statue itself measures 5.08 m (3.50 m without the base), a total of 55.43 m (30 toises ), its diameter is 10 , 31 m. It is below the height of Notre Dame de Paris (66.26 m or 34 toises ).

Since 2 December 1998, the tower is part of the World Heritage of UNESCO " means of pilgrims in France excellent". Between March 2006 and April 2009 it was restored again for 8.3 million euros, moving 660 tons of stone and statues with a total of 925 elements. Around the tower in the Square de la Tour Saint-Jacques is a small park that was laid out in 1856 by Jean-Charles Alphand.

location

The Tour Saint-Jacques is located between Rue de Rivoli and Place du Châtelet . At the near interchange Châtelet / Châtelet-Les Halles the metro and the RER keep the features of the underground lines 1 , 4 , 7 , 11 and 14 as well as the RER lines A , B and D .

Others

The tower inspired in 1856 the writer Alexandre Dumas to play La tour Saint-Jacques la boucherie .

literature

  • Julia Droste-Hennings: Thorsten Droste, Paris , DuMont Verlag 2003 , ISBN 3-7701-6090-8 , p. 275.
  • Heinfried Wischermann: Architekturführer Paris , Gerd Hatje Verlag Ostfildern 1997, ISBN 3-7757-0606-2 , p. 32.

Web links

Commons : Tower Saint-Jacques  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Flamel's house dates back to 1407 and is now the oldest house in Paris, located at 51 Rue de Montmorency .
  2. ↑ Thomas Hahn: Forget the Eiffel Tower! Go to Saint-Jacques! In: Die Welt, August 27, 2013.
  3. ^ Adolphe Joanne, Paris-Diamant, Neuer Führer , 1867, p. 112.
  4. ^ Augustus Pugin / Charles Heath, Paris and its Environs , 1831, p. 50.
  5. ^ Nicholas-Michel Troche, Mémoire historique et archéologique sur la tour de Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie , 1853, p. 20.
  6. ^ Nicholas-Michel Troche, Mémoire historique et archéologique sur la tour de Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie , 1853, p. 15.
  7. ^ Nicholas-Michel Troche, Mémoire historique et archéologique sur la tour de Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie , 1853, p. 19.

Coordinates: 48 ° 51 ′ 28.8 "  N , 2 ° 20 ′ 56.1"  E