The new national national sites of the Bern mission

France. As every year since 2018, the announcement of the 18 national emblematic sites selected (one per region) is the most important annual media exposure moment for the Heritage Foundation. Among these 18 monuments, this year there is a religious building very associated with Poitiers, the Notre-Dame-la-Grande church, which started this winter a large restoration project estimated around 6.5 million euros. The Romanesque college is already one of the “stars” of the Heritage Foundation platform, having collected some 300,000 euros in donations last year: by far the most fruitful collection of the Foundation in 2024, in front of two other sites attracting hundreds of thousands of euros of donations since 2023, the Palais Niel de Toulouse and the vestiges of Oradour-sur-Glane.

After the announcement of the selection of Notre-Dame-la-Grande, the mayor of Poitiers welcomed the “Major boost” provided by the Foundation, which contributes 7 % of the financing necessary for the restoration of the building. The spotlight on this Romanesque treasure, undoubtedly identified as a major element of the national heritage, echoes another site selected from the 18 emblematic monuments of 2025, the Valentré de Cahors bridge whose masonry requires a recovery.

In this list therefore coexist known monuments of French heritage, for which a contribution of the State and communities is expected, and unknown heritage sites (lower proportion than on the latest editions), and carrying a social, economic and tourist project for the territories concerned. Thus from the Little Minou beacon in Plouzané (Finistère), affected by the Ciaran storm, and which the town wishes to transform into a museum space integrated into a tourist circuit of the headlights.

Likewise for the old Rombas steel factory (Moselle), suffering from structural disorders, and which the small town wishes to put at the heart of the development of a new district. In the North, the agglomeration of Dunkirk is carrying out a site house project for the dunes of Flanders within an old sanatorium, disused and degraded, as in Guyana, Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni wants to transform a former hospital building from the colonial era into a citizen house.

This list comes from a call for projects launched at the start of the year and then examined by the Bern mission jury. Later in the year, it is supplemented by a selection of departmental projects. The funds raised thanks to the heritage lottery are then divided between the different selected sites, depending on their specific needs. Last year, the lottery made it possible to raise 28 million euros. Scratch tickets reproduce the 18 iconic national sites.