Charge tourists for entry to Notre-Dame de Paris? No one disputes it, Rachida Dati has a certain talent for creating debate (sparking controversies in view of the municipal elections of 2026, her opponents will say). With this idea, it above all highlighted the difficulties of public authorities in assuming the maintenance of a religious heritage which, since the law of 1905 and for all previous buildings, falls to the State for cathedrals and to municipalities. for churches. “By charging 5 euros per visitor, we would collect 75 million euros per year,” argued the Minister of Culture. Not negligible, but far below the needs for properties which, for the most part, have not benefited from regular maintenance due to failure to be deemed a priority.
The Heritage Foundation, very active in this area, estimates the sum necessary to rehabilitate the 1,604 buildings for which its services were requested at 763 million euros. However, the total number of places needing work is much higher: around 5,000, including 500 closed to the public, according to the Religious Heritage Observatory. This would bring the expected funds to more than a billion euros. We are far from the means mobilized by the public authorities. Town halls are struggling to contribute, and the collection announced in September 2023 by Emmanuel Macron for religious heritage in rural areas only made it possible to collect “only” 12 million euros in one year from 40,000 donors. Hence the desire aroused by the “treasure” Notre-Dame de Paris.