Eglise Saint Jacques Lunéville, 18th-century Catholic church in Lunéville, France

Église Saint-Jacques is a Baroque church in Lunéville, rebuilt from 1730. Its facade has two 52-metre towers, each with arched louvered openings, balustrades and statues, flanking a central section with a triangular pediment and a round clock crowned by a cross. Inside, pale yellow vaults rest on smooth yellow columns with white carved capitals, and a dark wooden pulpit with a canopy is mounted on a column to the left.

The parish church of Saint-Remi Abbey, founded in 999 by Folmar, Count of Lunéville, was rebuilt in Baroque style from 1730; Duke François III laid the first stone on 19 July 1730, with plans attributed to Jean-Nicolas Jennesson. Stanislas Leszczynski, duke from 1737, gave 19,000 livres in 1744 to finish the building, its towers and organ, entrusting the work to his architect Emmanuel Héré. The church was consecrated on 20 October 1745 by Scipion-Jérôme Bégon, Bishop of Toul, though construction continued; the clock group above the pediment was added in 1749.

The organ was designed by Emmanuel Héré, architect of the church towers and of the Place Stanislas in Nancy, and built between 1749 and 1751 by the Nancy organ maker Nicolas Dupont. It is a rare instrument with no visible pipes: the case is completed by a trompe-l'oeil fresco of the entrance to Paradise, with columns and balustrades hiding the pipes behind.

Free guided tours run from 2 pm to 6 pm, Wednesday afternoon through Monday afternoon, from mid-June to mid-September. Outside that window the church is not open to visitors, so plan a visit in that period. The entrance is on the facade between the two 52-metre towers.

The remains of Émilie du Châtelet, an influential philosopher and mathematician, rest within this church as a mark of honor. Another curious detail is a former funerary monument that once held the organs of Duke Stanislas Leszczynski of Lorraine.