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France’s powerful culture minister on Monday locked horns with the country’s Roman Catholic establishment on whether tourists should pay to enter Notre Dame cathedral when it reopens next month.<\/p>\n
Before a devastating 2019 blaze ravaged the landmark, Notre Dame was among the most visited buildings in Europe, with 14 to 15 million a year expected to visit once the cathedral reopens on December 7 and 8.<\/p>\n
But where tourists to London’s St Paul’s have to fork out 25 pounds ($32) and non-praying visitors to Milan’s Duomo need to hand over at least 10 euros ($11), those wishing to marvel at France’s most famous religious building could previously do so without opening their wallets.<\/p>\n
Culture Minister Rachida Dati has proposed a five-euro ticket, estimating it could bring in 75 million euros a year to fund the upkeep of religious heritage sites. A leading archbishop has called the proposal a “betrayal” of the church’s function.<\/p>\n
“Nearly 4,000 protected religious edifices are in a poor condition, or even at risk,” Dati warned the\u00a0Bishops’ Conference of France\u00a0(CEF) on Monday.<\/p>\n
While acknowledging that her proposal had “sparked debate”, Dati argued that charging for entry “could save a large part of our heritage” and urged Church leaders to work with the government on the issue.<\/p>\n
“I have no intention of commercialising our religious heritage,” Dati told the bishops.<\/p>\n
However the Catholic clerical establishment has given the proposal scant approval, with a senior bishop vowing to protect freedom of access.<\/p>\n
As churches and cathedrals have “always been places open to all”, making visitors pay for their upkeep would be a “betrayal of their original vocation”, CEF president Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort told the meeting.<\/p>\n
France has a rich vein of more than 100,000 religious heritage sites. But the upkeep can be crushing for the finances of small municipalities.<\/p>\n
The French state owns all religious buildings built up till 1905 — the date of a law setting out the separation of Church and state — while those built after belong to the Church.<\/p>\n
Of France’s 149 cathedrals, only four belong to the dioceses, compared with 87 belonging to the state and 52 to municipalities, according to a CEF survey published Monday.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame will reopen next month following five years of work involving hundreds of artisans costing nearly 700 million euros.<\/p>\n
On Monday a prelate in the southwest Landes region blessed with holy water the cathedral’s new chairs and pews before they are taken to the capital.<\/p>\n
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