Religious heritage: Emmanuel Macron wants to launch a national subscription

The President of the Republic must look into the fate of religious heritage, on the occasion of the next Heritage Days on September 16 and 17. According to Europe 1, Emmanuel Macron will visit, from Friday, the Notre-Dame collegiate church in Semur-en-Auxois, a flagship of Gothic architecture in Burgundy. He will also visit the Château de Bussy-Rabutin, in Bussy-le-Grand, managed by the Center des Monuments Nationaux. According to our information, he should announce a national subscription for the benefit of religious heritage, churches, chapels, synagogues or temples. It would be accompanied by tax incentives, donations from individuals or companies can be partially deducted from the tax. The amount of the incentive has not yet been decided, with some, including the Minister of Culture or the Prime Minister, pleading for it to be 75%, as was the case for donations made for the benefit of restoration. of Notre Dame de Paris.

The national subscription aims in particular to help the municipalities which are struggling to maintain the religious buildings for which they are responsible. Since the law of separation of Church and State, municipalities own 40,307 churches and chapels. 75% of them have less than 3000 inhabitants and it is estimated that 10% of the churches belong to villages with less than 200 inhabitants.

To accompany the subscription, the Ministry of Culture has initiated a census of religious buildings, in order to identify those which are not classified as historic monuments but deserve to be. Once requalified, they could benefit from public subsidies for their work. The classification movement should mainly concern buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries, the architectural quality of which has long been underestimated.