The Minister of Culture Rachida Dati said Thursday January 9 that she still “hopes to convince” the diocese of Paris to make tourists pay to visit Notre-Dame, “which would make it possible to finance the entire religious heritage” including 4,000 buildings are in danger. “I hope to convince the diocese. A contribution of 5 euros would make it possible to raise 75 to 100 million euros per year and to restore the entire religious heritage,” declared the minister during a press briefing in Dijon.
At the end of October, the diocese of Paris insisted on the principle of “free entry into churches and cathedrals”, defended by the Catholic Church in France, while the Notre-Dame-de-Paris cathedral is among the most visited buildings in Europe with 12 million entries in 2017.
However, the minister assured that “no”, her idea of paid entry, put forward last fall, was not dead. “Around 4,000 religious buildings are in danger”, she underlined during a trip dedicated to the announcement of the “full” financing by the State of the 22 million euros necessary for the restoration of the spire of Saint-Bénigne Cathedral in Dijon, whose former socialist mayor, François Rebsamen, has just been appointed Minister of Regional Planning and Decentralization.
The spire, which has the highest wooden frame in France after that of Notre-Dame de Paris, culminates 93 meters above Saint-Bénigne, evangelizer of Burgundy.
“Pray for us, Lord”
Referring to her ministry’s budget, Rachida Dati said “pray for us, Lord, to keep the additional 300 million euros” that she had obtained for 2025 from former Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
Rachida Dati, in this regard, called on communities to “not disengage” from culture, despite budgetary difficulties, shortly after the vote, by the Pays de la Loire region, for drastic cuts in this area. “Communities considered that culture was incidental, that it was a leisure activity. But today, often, mayors say that this is the first priority: investing in culture. This is the whole mission that I have. am assigned,” she added.