Saint-Jacques Church

Right after Palais de Justice, you’ll see Saint-Jacques church, built on the site of the former Cordeliers convent chapel. It was a stopover for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. But by the 19th century, Pau’s two churches were too small to accommodate the growing number of worshippers. It was therefore decided to build a large, beautiful church right next to the Pyrenees Boulevard, formerly known as Boulevard du Midi, and the palaces occupied by wealthy winter tourists. This is the present-day Saint Martin church. Given that it was clearly a church for tourists, a large-scale subscription campaign was launched to build a people’s church on the site of the old Saint-Jacques chapel, which was falling into ruin. The subscription was a success. Work began in 1851 and the Gothic-style Saint-Jacques church standing proudly before you was inaugurated 3 years before Saint-Martin church. Unfortunately, the 1999 storm caused serious damage to it, the church spent 10 years without its spires. They were rebuilt in 2012, even higher than the original ones.