France’s powerful culture minister held talks with the country’s Roman Catholic establishment on Monday over whether tourists will have to pay to enter Notre Dame Cathedral when it reopens next month.
Before a devastating fire destroyed the monument in 2019, Notre Dame was one of the most visited buildings in Europe, with an expected 14 to 15 million visitors a year once the cathedral reopens on December 7 and 8.
But while tourists to London’s St Paul’s must pay 25 pounds ($32) and non-praying visitors to Milan’s Duomo must hand over at least 10 euros ($11), those wanting to marvel at France’s most famous religious building could previously do so . without opening their wallets.
Culture Minister Rachida Dati has proposed a five-euro ticket, which he estimates could raise 75 million euros annually to fund the maintenance of religious heritage sites. A leading archbishop has called the proposal a “betrayal” of the church’s function.
“Nearly 4,000 protected religious buildings are in poor condition or even at risk,” Dati warned the Episcopal Conference of France (CEF) on Monday.
While acknowledging that her proposal had “sparked debate”, Dati argued that asking for access could “save a large part of our heritage” and urged church leaders to work with the government on the issue.
“I have no intention of commercializing our religious heritage,” Dati told the bishops.
However, the Catholic church establishment has barely approved the proposal, with a senior bishop vowing to protect freedom of access.
Because churches and cathedrals have “always been places accessible to all,” making visitors pay for their upkeep would be a “betrayal of their original vocation,” CEF president Eric de Moulins-Beaufort said at the meeting.
France has a rich vein of more than 100,000 religious heritage sites. But maintenance can be crushing to the finances of small municipalities.
The French state owns all religious buildings built up to 1905 – the date of a law establishing the separation of church and state – while buildings built afterward are owned by the church.
Of France’s 149 cathedrals, only four belong to dioceses, compared with 87 to states and 52 to municipalities, a CEF survey published on Monday showed.
Notre Dame will reopen next month after five years of work involving hundreds of craftsmen and costing almost €700 million.
On Monday, a prelate in the southwestern Landes region blessed the cathedral’s new chairs and pews with holy water before they are brought to the capital.
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