Paris. Once is not customary, the Court of Auditors has recognized the good management of a public establishment, in this case the establishment responsible for the conservation and restoration of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. The Court knows its subject well since it is the third report it publishes on the cathedral devastated by the fire of 2019.
It begins by applauding the respect of the calendar of reconstruction and restoration work which made it possible to reopen the cathedral to worship and to visitors in December 2024. It then congratulated the public establishment for the good management of the site finances. She had already underlined in her 2022 report compliance with the budget for phase 1 called “security” (€ 151 million). Phase 2, corresponding to the restoration proper, has a budget of 552 million euros including 125 in provisions. At the end of 2024, 438 million euros were spent, which made the court say that the establishment can recover around 140 million euros for phase 3, devoted to planned work before the fire, taking into account the 846 million euros in revenue resulting from the national collection.
The Ministry of Culture estimates the need to finance this third phase between 163 and 183 million euros; It includes the restoration of bedside tables and butts (€ 49 million) as well as sacristy (€ 13 million). If the ministry’s assessment is confirmed, additional financing should be found at the 140 million euros available.
The report allows you to know a little more about the budget for the management of the cathedral, which will double to be around 5.27 million euros, funded by the diocese (€ 3.20 million) and the State (€ 2 million). This doubling is partly due to new security charges. Then arises the problem of recipes. The diocese of Paris, which firmly opposed a pricing of the entry into the cathedral proposed by the minister, Rachida Dati, has set up a donation system. However, the Court puts the subject on the carpet by suggesting a ticket office for the ambulatory.
The public may lose their Latin between the parties who are paying and those that are free. The entry to the treasure of the cathedral, managed by the diocese, costs 12 euros (full price). Access to the archaeological crypt which presents the archaeological vestiges discovered during excavations between 1965 and 1970, managed, by the City of Paris, is 11 euros. And from September 20, the public will be able to get into the towers again against the sum of 16 euros. The national monuments center, which manages access to the towers, has noted its prices, initially 11 euros. So that the addition is starting to climb for those who want to make the three circuits: 39 euros. A sum which should exceed 50 euros, if the State decides to move forward on the Museum of the Work Museum in the neighboring Hôtel-Dieu, in break since the report by Charles Personnaz submitted in February 2024. The magistrates are however more than perplexed on this museum, given its cost (which is around 120 million euros) and the state of public finances.
By the way, they raise a few hares such as the absence of official standards for the management of runoff water descending with a frame with lead in heritage sites, or the disproportionate cost of the conservation of archaeological remains. These two positions increased the Notre-Dame budget by several million euros.
The magistrates take advantage of the report to learn some teachings from a public project – for once – well conducted. They attribute the success of the project to the fact that it was entrusted to a public establishment endowed in a way with full powers and not to the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs as is the use. “The responsiveness and governance of the establishment have enabled a constructive dialogue and a consensus throughout the work”, they underline. Perhaps they could have added that it is always easier to keep a site when you have the most necessary sums to choose the right providers and have a competent and extended team (37 people) to follow them.
