When the municipality of Rochegude, France, acquired the 11th-century Chapelle Notre-Dame-des-Aubagnans, the building was at risk of partial collapse after years of neglect. The small town was able to raise initial funds for emergency stabilization, but a full restoration comes with a staggering price tag.The Globe and Mail
The chapel’s whitewashed walls are peeling, its tarp-covered floors spattered with bird droppings, and its centuries-old front door has been stolen. But Didier Besnier, mayor of Rochegude, in southeastern France, gazes around with a smile. Because of him, the building has been stabilized – for now.
Just a few years ago, the neglected 11th-century Chapelle Notre-Dame-des-Aubagnans was at risk of partial collapse. When the municipality acquired the building from private owners in 2017, it had been overtaken by vegetation and a rear wall, once part of an attached priory, was unstable, its stones loosened by decades of vibration caused by passing vehicles.
Mr. Besnier put his hand on the new concrete support structure supporting the wall. “It’s not very pretty, but it was an emergency,” he says.
With more than 45,000 listed national monuments, France has one of the densest concentrations of protected buildings in the world. But with nearly a quarter of those buildings in poor condition or at risk, according to a French court report, protecting them is a bottomless financial pit, and the country is struggling to keep up.
At the chapel, the €200,000 invested so far is just a start. The roof is leaking, and the floor tiles and tower steps (also stolen) need replacing. Beside the wall, there’s a two-metre-deep pit once inhabited by a religious hermit, filled with centimetre-long thorns – a major potential liability for the town should someone fall in. Not to mention security, landscaping, electrical work.
All together, it is expected to cost more than €1-million. For a town of fewer than 2,000 residents, that much money is a fortune. Rochegude has been lucky with support from the state, but not all small towns are so lucky, Mr. Besnier says.
“We don’t have the means of a city like Paris, and we have a lot of priorities,” he said. “Choices will have to be made.”
The near destruction by fire of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2019, in part a result of underinvestment in fire safety measures, has shone a spotlight on the desultory state of many of France’s national monuments.
French organizations like Sites & Monuments, the country’s oldest heritage preservation association, have pegged the annual cost of keeping up the country’s heritage buildings at around €400-million. But between 2011 and 2022, money from the state consistently fell short of that figure by at least a quarter.
In 2023, the country increased its preservation funding to €382-million, representing 0.04 per cent of the country’s total spending for the year. An additional €100-million was promised for 2024, but almost completely scrapped in February.
Even if divided only among the 10,000 or so buildings considered at risk by the Cour des Comptes, the country’s financial auditor, current spending leaves just tens of thousands of euros per building.
That’s a perfunctory amount when restoring a single wall can cost hundreds, said Julien Lacaze, president of Sites & Monuments. The Notre-Dame Cathedral’s restoration alone, for instance, is expected to cost €700-million – and fixed costs for heritage, including materials and labour, are rising.
“People are shocked when they hear how little we spend on our preservation,” Mr. Lacaze said. “The longer we wait to restore buildings, the more the cost increases. That number should be doubled, at least.”
It’s not just that the Barbegal aqueduct is in ruins: recent attempts to save it are crumbling, too. The Roman watermill complex near Arles was once considered the greatest concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world. Now, big chunks of modern cement, poured and hardened beneath the arches as makeshift supports, are falling to pieces beneath it.
In March, after experts noted the worrying condition of the structure owing to erosion, the aqueduct was selected for emergency assistance from one of the organizations stepping in to cover the state’s shortfall: the Heritage Lottery.
Once considered the greatest concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world, the Aqueduc Romain de Barbegal is considered to be in 'worrying' condition. While some recent attempts to support the Roman structure have been successful, others are already falling apart.The Globe and Mail
Funded by scratchcard sales, the Loto du patrimoine has raised €150-million for 850 sites across France since 2018, adding another layer of support to the mille feuille of local, regional and state funding. The aqueduct will receive €250,000, distributed through the Heritage Mission, led by journalist Stéphane Bern.
Even international groups have stepped up to fill the shortfall. The French Heritage Society, an American non-profit, has raised US$15-million in grants for French buildings since its founding in 1984.
“The needs are becoming graver,” said Jennifer Herlein, executive director. “These people are struggling to find adequate means within their immediate vicinity.”
At the Barry Troglodyte Village, work is finally under way to preserve a site unique in France: cave dwellings that have been continuously inhabited from the Neolithic period until the 20th century. Perched on top of a mountain above Bollène in southern France, stone facades were constructed against the cliff face from the Middle Ages onward to close in houses, and even a chapel. Officially, the site is closed to the public, but hikers regularly scale the rocky outcrop and venture in through its dark doorways – a risk, given the possibility of collapse and landslide.
While much of the site remains in ruins, workers nearby are cutting stone and laying roof tiles to stabilize the cliff and safeguard the structures still standing. The total cost, estimated by the country’s Heritage Foundation, will be about €250,000. And the project has been lucky – 80 per cent of that was provided through the heritage lottery. But it’s a sum unavailable to the vast majority of non-urban projects.
Alexandra Sobczak, president of heritage non-profit Urgences Patrimoine (Heritage Emergency), says that finding money for local preservation efforts is a growing challenge.
“When we make a request for donations, we find that people are happy to give to well-known buildings. But they don’t give money for buildings of proximity,” she said.
Given the inadequacy of existing funds, Ms. Sobczak is strongly in favour of raising tourist taxes to contribute to heritage conservation as a whole. Already, France charges tourists up to €5 in some of its most visited cities, including Paris, Lyon and Nice.
“There are buildings all over the country that are in the middle of falling down,” she said. “If measures aren’t taken soon, we will lose many important elements of our heritage.”