From the former bailiwick of Pont-de-l’Arche, in Normandy, the Heritage Mission, created in 2017 and led by Stéphane Bern, made public the list of 100 new sites benefiting from the sixth edition of the Heritage Loto. Each year, castles, character houses, mills, churches, bridges, lighthouses, etc., which need to be restored, are selected from the file. Only one site is selected per department, in mainland France and overseas.
Among the 100 selected projects, 26 are religious places and 20 are castles. Nearly 60% of these sites belong to public owners and, in most cases, they are not registered or classified as historic monuments.
Among those elected, we find the Mont Blanc Observatory/Chalet Vallot in Chamonix (Haute-Savoie), the Blockhaus known as “Maison fort” in Mogues (Ardennes), the Town Hall of Bergues (North), the interior decorations of the Daunou Theater (Paris), the former Félix Faure swimming pool in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), the wall paintings of the Dougilard chapel in Soudan (Loire-Atlantique), the villa Le Rêve known as “Villa Matisse” in Vence (Alpes-Maritimes), the Pré-Conduit oil mill in Bargemon (Var) or the Saint-Dominique church in Roura (Guyana).
These 100 sites are in addition to the 18 “emblematic projects” announced last March, such as the former Saint-Vincent cathedral in Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire), the Elbeuf synagogue (Seine-Maritime), the Institut of marine biology Michel Pacha in La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var), the house-workshop of potter Wingerter-Ruhlkmann in Betschdorf (Bas-Rhin) and the former prefecture-House of Governors in Dzaoudzi (Mayotte).
Since the start of the operation, 125 million euros have been collected thanks to the games. This sum made it possible to mobilize patronage, donations and public subsidies. Stéphane Bern claims to have mobilized an additional 103 million euros, making it possible to save 500 sites which did not have the financial means necessary for restoration, reports Le Figaro.
According to the Ministry of Culture, the heritage lottery has already provided assistance to “762 sites for their restoration work, including 108 emblematic regional heritage projects and 654 departmental sites. Today, more than 60% are already saved or about to be saved. 230 have been completed, and 240 projects are underway”.
