St. James' tower, Paris, France
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 Digitally restored Art Photochrom or Photochrome is used to create a color print from a black and white photo negative using between four and fourteen lithograph stones made from rocklike substances to colorize the print with several different inks
Size: 5765px × 4084px
Photo credit: © Photo Art Collection (PAC) / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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