Square of Saint-Jacques Tower

The Saint-Jacques Tower standing before you is the last surviving fragment of a grand church once known as Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie. The church earned its name because it served as the home parish for the wealthy butchers who worked at the nearby Les Halles market. Built between the years fifteen hundred and nine and fifteen hundred and twenty-three, the tower is a masterwork of the flamboyant Gothic style, characterized by its intricate, flame-like stone carvings. During the French Revolution, the church itself was dismantled for its stone, but the tower was spared, leaving it as a lonely, dramatic sentinel in the heart of Paris.