Rachida Dati suggests making entry charges for vacationers; the diocese remembers the precept of “free entry” | EUROtoday

Rachida Dati defends the financing of“a major plan to safeguard religious heritage” In France. As such, the Minister of Culture is proposing to cost vacationers for entry to Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. This is what she stated in an interview with Figaroposted on-line Wednesday October 23.

“Everywhere in Europe, access to the most remarkable religious buildings requires payment”underlines the minister, who “proposed a simple idea to the Archbishop of Paris: set up a symbolic price for all tourist visits to Notre-Dame and devote this money entirely to a major plan to safeguard religious heritage”.

The cathedral is because of reopen on December 7, after 5 years of colossal reconstruction following the fireplace which ravaged it in 2019. “With just 5 euros per visitor, we would collect 75 million euros per year. Thus, Notre-Dame de Paris would save all the churches of Paris and France. It would be a magnificent symbol”additional argues M^me Dati. “Notre-Dame has awakened our attention to religious heritage, which belongs to all French people, whatever their faith”says the minister.

Making non-EU foreigners pay extra

“It’s a proposal that I support”declared, Thursday morning, on France Inter, the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, accountable for worship, taking the instance of Spain, the place he remembers “having visited the Sagrada Familia, [où] we pay ». Mr. Retailleau considers the measure useful “if it means, for 5 euros, saving a religious heritage to which we can be attached, whether we believe in heaven or not”as a result of, “quite simply, it’s the French landscape”.

On the opposite, the diocese of Paris for its half recalled the precept of “free entry into churches and cathedrals”defended by the Catholic Church in France. Free entry is justified, specifically, by the ” assignment “ of the Church of“to welcome all men and women unconditionally and therefore necessarily free of charge”affirms the diocese in a press launch.

In this interview, the minister additionally speaks out in favor of adjusting the pricing of nationwide monuments or museums from 2026. “Is it, for example, normal for a French visitor to pay the same price for entry to the Louvre as a Brazilian or Chinese visitor? »she asks.

M^me Dati “wishes non-EU visitors to pay more for their entry ticket and that this supplement will finance the renovation of national heritage”. “The French are not intended to pay for everything, on their own”and it could be “a real break in the pricing policy of our cultural establishments”she notes.

In 2023, the Louvre Museum acquired a complete of 8.9 million guests (14% greater than in 2022). Some 68% have been international vacationers, the remaining French guests. At the beginning of 2024, entry to the biggest museum on the earth elevated to 22 euros, after remaining at 17 euros for a number of years.