PARIS — While the doors of Notre-Dame cathedral reopened in Paris on Dec. 7, those of Saint-Georges Church in Orival, Normandy will remain closed. Perched on the cliffs along the Seine near Rouen, partially embedded in the white stone characteristic of the river’s meanders, the small building has been under a municipal emergency order for several weeks. The cause: a decorative hanging keystone weighing almost 2.2 pounds fell in the middle of the choir.
Saint-Georges is far from an exception. “Nearly 4,000 protected religious buildings are in poor condition or even in danger,” says French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, and “the numbers are almost identical for unprotected heritage buildings.”
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“The problem is the humidity,” says Fabien Leroy, Orival city councilor in charge of the church, ducking into the sacristy to switch on the light.
Known since at least the 13th century, the church, built mainly in the 15th and 16th centuries, towers over the Seine as it winds its way to Le Havre, where it joins the English Channel. In the 19th century — unable to expand the structure toward the river — it was decided to dig into the rock. The same rock that had been used to construct the vaults, walls and pillars, a crumbly “cliff stone.”
Inevitably, the monument suffered. Parts of the vaults were rebuilt, pillars were replaced and the roof urgently reconstructed after the sacristy flooded. That’s in addition to the pews that were devoured by dry rot — a wood-destroying fungi.
“We planned to repair them all, but given their condition, we had to replace them. And with the allocated budget, we could only restore half of them,” Leroy explains.
A French particularity
Like Orival, most French municipalities are responsible for maintaining one or more churches — a French particularity.
After the nationalization of religious buildings during the French Revolution, the Law of 1905 provided for their ownership to be transferred to religious associations created as part of the separation of church and state. While Protestants and Jews accepted this change, the Catholic Church opposed it, deeming religious associations incompatible with its organization.
A compromise was eventually reached in 1907: Paris churches remained public property — with the state and municipalities responsible for their maintenance — but were designated for worship.
Religious heritage has adjusted to demographic changes and declining attendance.
So far, this model has been an asset for French heritage. “The 1905 law means that churches are in relatively good condition,” says communist Senator Pierre Ouzoulias, co-rapporteur of a Senate information report on the state of religious heritage.
The Conference of Bishops of France has recorded only 72 demolitions of religious buildings since 2000 and just 326 decommissioning of municipal churches between 1905 and 2023.
“In the rest of Europe, religious heritage has adjusted to demographic changes and declining attendance,” says Bertrand de Feydeau, vice president of the Fondation du Patrimoine preservation group. Sales of religious buildings are more common elsewhere in Europe. Yet they remain marginal in France, where they often involve modern buildings owned by the Church or religious communities on the verge of extinction.
Budget constraints
In Orival, “the mayor is an atheist, but it’s clear to him the church must be preserved. It’s all we have here, so we have to protect it,” Leroy says, standing in front of a 15th-century Pieta (a sculpture of Christ’s body being held by his mother, Mary) in poor condition.
The church is unique in its kind, with its bell tower resting on the cliff. Listed as a historic monument, the building is being renovated bit by bit.
Funding is the number one issue.
“Each time, it costs us tens of millions of euros, and we don’t get any subsidies,” says Deputy Mayor Philippe Colange. “We adapt to what we discover, because we don’t have much room to maneuver; we can’t juggle the loans too much.”
With municipalities often struggling to balance their budgets, funding is the No.1 issue.
“The financial situation is going to change everything,” says David Nicolas, mayor of Avranches (also in Normandy) and vice president of the Association of Mayors of France in charge of heritage. “The maintenance of religious heritage is becoming very costly, and especially disproportionate given the budgetary constraints.”
A paperwork headache
In 2023, the French government allocated nearly 120 million euros for the restoration and maintenance of religious heritage through the Regional Cultural Affairs Directorates. Added to this are several tens of millions of euros from various funds dedicated to heritage, largely directed toward religious heritage. That is not to mention the sums provided by the European Union and local authorities.
“Money isn’t really the issue,” Ouzoulias says. While that opinion is not universally accepted, everyone agrees that accessing these various subsidies can quickly become a headache. “In a village, you only have the mayor and a municipal secretary to fill out multiple, often very technical and time-consuming, applications.”
Aware of the problem, the Church of France recently published a “Guide to Sponsorship of Religious Heritage,” both a practical handbook for the owners of places of worship and a directory of sponsoring organizations. This document is set to be sent in the coming weeks to all the mayors of France.
The private sector is an important player in financing the restoration and maintenance of religious heritage. The Fondation du Patrimoine managed to raise nearly 500 million euros between 2018 and 2022, about half of which was used for religious heritage.
There are numerous other foundations, awards and competitions to assist small municipalities. Added to that is sponsorship, which sometimes allows a painting or statue to be restored at minimal cost.
Faced with emergency
The issue of funding is also often hindered by poor habits. Remarkable as it may be, the Notre-Dame project serves as a counterexample.
“The diagnostics are often very well done, but you need to know how to interpret them,” de Feydeau says. “If you receive a general report for the complete restoration of a building, the costs can quickly exceed a million euros. But it’s important to distinguish between what is urgent and what isn’t, and then spread the work out over time.”
A full-scale renovation is often unnecessary to remove a church from a state of danger and allow it to remain open for worship and/or visits. Furthermore, the work must be done in the right order: What’s the point of redoing wall coatings that will be ruined by roof leaks during the next storm?
Yet, when it comes to such decision-making, mayors and their teams are not always equipped. “Most municipalities are unable to handle project management. The burden on mayors is too heavy,” says Edouard de Lamaze, president of the Religious Heritage Observatory.
Heritage architects are too few in number and already overwhelmed.
The problem is particularly acute in small towns that have several religious buildings or in new municipalities created from the merger of multiple villages. “Heritage architects are too few in number and already overwhelmed,” Avranches Mayor Nicolas says.
De Feydeau observes that France lacks a “culture of maintenance.”
“I think we should, as in Denmark, subsidize maintenance more than restoration,” he says. This approach requires very regular monitoring of the condition of buildings — something not all municipalities can manage — but it proves highly cost-effective. It is better to clean gutters regularly than to deal with water damage caused by a damaged roof.
The Yvelines department, just west of Paris, has understood this well, and inspired by Denmark, set up a service called Ingénier’Y.
“In practice, the municipalities delegate regular maintenance work to us,” says Cécile Garguelle, head of the division. “We have hired heritage architects who create a health record for the building to establish a multi-year maintenance plan, we assist the municipalities in finding subsidies, and we carry out the work.”
The total cost of this maintenance work is set at 30,000 euros, and the department subsidizes municipalities up to 80% of the amounts spent. “We have really avoided disasters.”
Reopening community spaces
To sustainably save the churches, the question of their purpose also arises.
When former French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot suggested one in seven churches should be destroyed — particularly targeting 19th-century religious buildings. It is true that these buildings are often disproportionate and of a somewhat outdated style — neo-Gothic, neo-Romanesque or eclectic.
Her opinion remains minority today, due to the French population’s strong attachment to their bell towers. But what will happen in a few years, particularly in depopulated and de-Christianized rural areas?
“The value of a church is not assessed by its aesthetic value… but by the attachment people have to it,” says de Feydeau.
They must be kept open, or reopened, to turn them back into “community spaces.”
Today, the scarcity of priests and worshippers is drastically reducing the number of ceremonies held. Reflection seems inevitable in order to open churches more widely to new uses that are compatible with their primary purpose.
“Examining the possibility of sustainable agreements, training people living in villages to take on the role of delegate, are avenues worth pursuing further,” says Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French Bishops’ Conference.
To save the churches, they must be kept open, or reopened, to turn them back into “community spaces,” says de Feydeau. These spaces are regarded as “the first museum of France,” and “heritage for those who have none.” These spaces sometimes house exceptional works of art, when they are not themselves architectural masterpieces.
In Orival, work to save the Saint-Georges Church has already begun. The hanging keystones are being strengthened one by one. Leroy has even found a sponsor to restore the 15th century Pieta. He is still looking for one to save the 17th century painting of the Resurrection hanging on the wall.
