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Churches in danger: Dati suggests charging for entry to Notre-Dame and relaunches the debate
By suggesting that tourists pay for entry to Notre-Dame, the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati intends to finance the restoration of other religious buildings by taking inspiration from Italy, which clashes with legislation and has been so far refused by the Church in France. A few weeks before the end of the restoration project of the cathedral, ravaged by a fire in 2019, Ms. Dati put forward this proposal Wednesday evening in Le Figaro, while the building is one of the most visited in Europe, with “14 to 15 million” people expected by the diocese after the reopening scheduled for December 7. “Everywhere in Europe, access to the most remarkable religious buildings is paying,” said underlined the minister, also mayor of the 7th arrondissement of the capital. She specified that she had “proposed to the Archbishop of Paris a simple idea: set up a symbolic price for all tourist visits to Notre-Dame and devote this money entirely to a major plan to safeguard religious heritage.” By charging “only 5 euros per visitor, we would collect 75 million euros per year”, she said. The Diocese recalled on Thursday “the principle of free entry into churches and cathedrals”, emphasizing that the “mission” of the Catholic Church is to “unconditionally welcome every man and woman”. “At Notre-Dame, he added, pilgrims and visitors have never been distinguished: the services are celebrated during the visits, and the visits continue during the services.” According to Ms. Dati, “visitors from outside the EU ” should also pay “more for their entry ticket” to museums, in order to “finance the renovation of national heritage”. The Minister of the Interior in charge of religion, Bruno Retailleau, supported the idea Thursday on France Inter, taking the example of Spain where he “visited the Sagrada Familia, (where) we pay”. – Law of 1905 – If this practice is also common in Italy, notably at the Saint-Marc basilica in Venice, the law of 1905 separation of Church and State in France prohibits in principle any “tax” or “royalty” on the entrance to religious buildings. The heritage foundation, which collects funds for the restoration of endangered heritage, welcomed Ms. Dati’s proposal which opens “a debate on available financing methods”, insisting that “all possible financial resources, including innovative ones, be mobilized to come to the aid of this heritage in danger” , even if the case of France is specific due to the Law of 1905. The host Stéphane Bern who was entrusted with a mission for the preservation of heritage by Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and is at the head of the “Loto du heritage”, which allows each year to raise funds for this purpose, had already put forward the idea of paying entry to religious buildings. “On the one hand, I think that it is good to pay for the maintenance of this monument which costs a fortune but at the same time it is a place of worship, a common good which must remain free”, estimated Marius Boulesteix, 32 years old, French and landscaper based in Marrakech for 5 years. “Personally, it does not “I wouldn’t be shocked to pay because many other monuments like the Sainte-Chapelle charge a fee,” he added, interviewed by AFP with other passers-by on Thursday. Roger Gillmann, a 59-year-old German and teacher, believes as a “Christian” that one “should not pay to go to a church”, the question being whether one comes there for its museum interest or for worship. Before the fire, only the towers of Notre -Lady and the archaeological crypt were paying in the same way as the necropolis of the kings of France at the Saint-Denis Basilica, according to the Center des monuments nationaux.In France, 5,000 religious buildings – out of around 50,000 places of worship listed – are in very poor condition. poor condition and require urgent intervention, recalled Emmanuel Macron during the launch of a national subscription in September 2023. This subscription should make it possible to “mobilize 200 million euros over four years” in order to help small municipalities preserve their religious buildings. In the spring, the paid exhibition (3 euros) of a masterpiece by Raphael at the basilica of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume (Var) made it possible to raise “substantial” funds intended for the restoration of the building, according to the private initiators of the process including the owner of the painting.ls-tez-bat/may/cbn
