Some 3,000 to 4,000 religious buildings are in a state that “raises fears for their preservation”: in order to remedy this, and to relieve the small communities which bear the burden of maintaining and renovating the churches of before 1905, Emmanuel Macron announced, Friday September 15, “a collection for religious heritage”. This “will begin on September 15 and aims to raise 200 million euros over four years,” said the President of the Republic from the collegiate church of Semur-en-Auxois, in Côte-d’Or.
This donation will be tax-exempt up to 1,000 euros, “as was the case on the Notre-Dame de Paris construction site”, after the fire which struck the cathedral.
The prize pool will benefit municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants, as well as those with 20,000 inhabitants overseas, the head of state also specified.
This announcement comes as the government is also considering a change in the law so that public authorities can subsidize energy renovation work on religious buildings built after 1905, the date of the law separating Churches and State.
