In Paris the staggering St-Jacques tower Like a sunflower Whose upper part sometimes hits the Seine river and shadow slides slowly along the barges Then in my sleep on the tip of my toes I go to the room where I lie And set it afire In order that nothing be left of this consent which was torn out from me The furniture then give way to animals of the same size which look at me fraternally ... André BRETON; Le revolver à cheveux blancs Copyright Gallimard, tous droits reservés.

19/21

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Some History...

This tower is the last gothic vestige and former bell-tower of the Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie church. So called because in the past it stood in the butchers quarters, that church occupied the actual garden of the tower probably since the Carolingian times and was destroyed in 1797 at the Revolution.

There gathered pilgrims for St Jacques-de-Compostelle, a very famous pilgrimage dedicated to saint Jacques. This apostle, saint Jean's brother and fisherman of the Génésareth lake, was called by Jesus to follow him and attended many miracles. He preached in Spain and was condemned by Herode. According to the tradition, its relics were laid in a skif which ran aground in Galice at north-west of Spain, where they might have been discovered miraculously thanks to a star. A city had perhaps been created at this place consequently named in latin "campus stellae" (star field)...which became Compostelle. A bishopric was translated there but normans and saracens devastated the place in the Xth century. Since then, the pilgrimage grew a lot, attracting all western Europe and became one of the most important ones throughout all middle-age. Pilgrims took big classical ways going through Aix-la-Chapelle, Paris, Orléans, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Jaca, well provided with road-posts and legend sites (Roncevaux). This created between France and Spain, an intellectual stream which shows itself in mediaeval chronicles in verse, legends and architecture.

Later, Pascal experienced gravity at the summit of the tower. And this is how the scientific vocation of the tower was born, since from 1891 up to now it has become a meteorologic station in which, among other things, are measured the air quality and pollution level in Paris.