an exceptional collection to save a thousand churches

Mentioned by Emmanuel Macron in June 2023 at Mont-Saint-Michel, the establishment of a national collection for the safeguarding of religious heritage must be confirmed on Friday September 15 by the president, traveling to Semur-en-Auxois (Côte- Golden). This collection is planned to help small communities, those with less than 10,000 inhabitants in mainland France and less than 20,000 inhabitants in overseas territories, to preserve their religious buildings.

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This collection will be managed by the Heritage Foundation, chaired by Guillaume Poitrinal: “At the Heritage Foundation, we are inundated with requests regarding this religious heritage. We estimate that there are around 5,000 buildings in danger, therefore in need of urgent renovation operations.”

These 5,000 buildings represent 10% of the 50,000 places of worship recorded in France, all religions combined. With this collection, the aim is to avoid the demolition by small communities of their religious buildings – the vast majority of which are churches – for lack of sufficient means to maintain them.

“With 600 million euros, we can save a thousand churches in France.”

Guillaume Poitrinal, president of the Heritage Foundation

at franceinfo

“The collection for Notre-Dame de Paris, which is a magnificent success, was 830 million eurosrecalls Guillaume Poitrinal, who hopes to reach 600 million euros in donations with this operation. Individuals and businesses participating in this collection could benefit from exceptional tax deductions.