Gargoyles on Tour Saint-Jacques - Paris, France - Gargoyles and Chimeras on Waymarking.com

Today’s gargoyle-bedecked bell tower is the sole vestige of Saint-Jacques de la Boucherie ("the Butchers’ St. James church"), erected in the 12th century.

Oddly, in the height of the Renaissance, in the years 1508-1522, it was rebuilt in flamboyant Gothic style. The ensemble must have closely resembled Saint-Aspais in Melun, which was designed in the same decade by the same architect, Jehan de Felin. They certainly shared identical style and features. Donators in Paris, however, were far more generous, particularly the butchers’ guild. (Now you know how the church got its unusual name!) The stonemasons sculpted particularly rich ornamentation for their benefactors’ pleasure. If you look carefully, however, and scout about the base of the tower, you might notice that one side looks like someone forgot to order the stonemasons to work on it. But this was merely because nearby houses left them no elbow room.

The church was demolished in 1797, yet another victim of the Revolution. A covered market went up on the spot in 1824. When Rue de Rivoli was laid out in 1853-1855, the tower received heavy-handed restoration. The houses crowding the splendid Gothic-style tower were summarily demolished and the present-day square was created to grace the tower and the new intersection with greenery. Thus, the old bell tower, originally designed to call the faithful to worship and to flatter benefactors, became a decorative element in the cityscape.

The Tour Saint-Jacques escaped demolition thanks to the prestigious names attached to it by history or by legend. We could name names like Nicolas Flamel (associated with alchemy and the occult) and famed physicists like Blaise Pascal, who conducted some of the earliest barometric experiments from the tower’s appreciable height of 58 meters, and François Arago (physicist, astronomer and politician), who convinced the city to purchase the tower in 1836. The tower recently received careful restoration, thus preserving its mystique for future generations of amateurs of Paris and all things Gothic.

Water spout is used: yes Condition: Pristine

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