This tower is all that remains of the church built in 1523 by some butchers (of all people!). It was the starting point for the Way of St James, which led to Santiago de Compostela. Sadly, the church itself was demolished in 1793 and sold for the sum of its materials - a victim of the French Revolution. However, the conditions upon which it was sold stated that the tower must remain.
The tower has been restored several times in recent years, and it now stands proud in the 4th arrondissement. It's quite a random object - you do expect to find the rest of the church somewhere! - Lucy
@jonhen Thank you Jonathan! I didn't walk to Spain, though I have always wanted to see Santiago de Compostela. Might take more than one day though?! I'll have to wait until I have a holiday! - Lucy
@bruni Thanks Bruni. I'm not sure if the original church was as impressive as there are only sketches of it. If you put 'Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie' into google images you can see some of them. In all of them the tower looks like a bit of an add-on and seems to stand alone, but sadly no one really knows any more as it was destroyed so long ago. - Lucy
@helixconcepts Thanks Laura. I know what you mean! And the level of detail they put on buildings back then when they had only rudimentary tools! It puts us to shame now! - Lucy
November 20th, 2013
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